My Eyes Are Open
by MattJ8
Summary: This is an alternate universe fanfic, Yugi has been homeschooled most of his life but will now be attending Domino Univeristy - there will be fluffy slash, but I haven't decided any pairings, so if you have a suggestion or something that you'd like me to include feel free to send me a personal message or leave your thoughts in a review. I have no qualms with adding characters.
1. Chapter 1

**My Eyes Are Open**

-For The First Time-

_Summary: Yugi has been homeschooled by his Grandfather and an occasional tutor since he was in sixth grade (why will be explained); unfortunately for his Grandpa's nerves, that is, little Yugi is seeking further education. He will be attending University/College in the coming days… What will this culture shock have in store for the young and gifted boy? Only time will tell._

* * *

_Disclaimer: This is an alternate universe fan fiction, so pretty much everyone's stories are changed at least a bit. I'll try to explain things as they come up – as long as it doesn't detract from the main story – otherwise I'll include a note on in my ending statements each chapter. Should I not explain something thoroughly, please feel free to ask about it via review or send me a personal message and I will message you with an extended explanation or include it in the next update ^_^_

* * *

**Chapter One**

"But Grandpa," the boy started before he was cut off by the short old man.

"No buts, Yugi." The old man said with a grin. "If you would rather go off to school in the big city, leaving your poor old grandpa to run his game shop all by himself…" He trailed off, clearly distraught by his own intended jest.

"Grandpa, I'll just be a few hours away." Yugi said with a smile. "I can come back right away if you need some help here and there."

"I know, wait where was I?" Mr. Motou rubbed his chin thoughtfully while trying to recall exactly what they were talking about – he knew it wasn't the overdone topic of his grandson's academic ambitions.

"Your friend from the conventions…"

"Oh yes!" He shouted, as if pleased that he had remembered, despite having been reminded. "Well you see, my colleague, Mr. Fuyu's wife works in an orphanage…" He frowned slightly. Even though the topic of Yugi's parent's deaths' was one that the two had become well-adjusted to, the older of the pair still felt uneasy discussing death around the young boy. He was after all only sixteen… Albeit, very bright for his age – otherwise he wouldn't be off to University already.

"Grandpa?"

"Oh, sorry, I got lost in thought for a moment… Where was I again?"

"Mrs. Fuyu's orphan-"

"Orphanage! Yes, I knew that." He blurted out, "She has a boy there, and he too is bright like you and will be attending Domino University in the fall."

Yugi felt himself growing uneasy, he knew where this was going and had put this seemingly inevitable conversation off for what seemed like weeks; however, at this point, with only a few days left before the start of the semester, he didn't feel he could plausibly avoid what his grandfather was going to say next, any longer.

"We thought maybe you two could get together? Maybe see if you have any classes together?" He said with a wide smile.

"Grandpa, that's a really great idea, but-"

"Ah, ah! I already said no buts, Yugi!" Mr. Motou wagged his finger at the young man before him, across the counter of his game shop's checkout section. "I've invited Mrs. Fuyu to bring him over for tea this afternoon and perhaps you two could hit the town? Maybe we can see if he can stay for dinner, as well!"

The boy plastered on a fake smile and nodded, feigning eagerness. "Alright Grandpa, you win! Maybe the two of us will really hit it off." He forced a chuckle as he turned toward the steps up to his room above the game shop.

"That's the spirit!"

Yugi could only frown as he climbed the several flights of stairs up to his room. He appreciated what his grandpa was doing and he felt that Mrs. Fuyu was probably only trying to do the same for this other kid as his grandpa was doing for him, but seriously?

'What if I wanted to make my own friends…?' Yugi thought to himself. 'What if I didn't want friends…?'

The boy flopped down on his bed, face down, and sighed into his pillow. He rolled over onto his back, keeping the pillow over his face. Once he left for school he was going to miss his room, his warm comfy bed, and this pillow; one of the only things that had survived the house fire that had claimed most of his childhood memories and his parents and sister. This one pillow was what he had taken with him outside that cold autumn night. This one pillow was what he had sought comfort in while he watched his father running back into their burning house to find Yugi's mother and older sister… This one pillow was all he had to remember his entire family by and yet he didn't want to risk taking it with him at the risk of seeming like a wuss or a child; or worse, losing it.

* * *

A knock at the door shocked Yugi into an upright and awake position, sending his pillow jolting from his face a meter or so away.

Yugi turned still recovering from being woken in such a manner to see his bedroom door push open slightly. A blonde haired boy poked his head into the room.

"Sorry." He spoke softly and with an accent – British was it? "Your grandpa just said to come up…"

The stirring boy rubbed his eyes with the backs of his wrists and yawned slightly. He blinked rapidly and tiredly as he spoke, "It's alright, and I didn't even plan on falling asleep when I came up here," he glanced at the bedside alarm, "wow… three hours ago…" He said in astonishment.

The boy smiled and gave a light laugh, "You must have been pretty tired." He said delicately.

Yugi swung his legs over the side of his bed and stood up – of course… this kid was taller than him too… He rubbed the back of his neck, illustrating a degree of unease. "So, my name is Yugi…"

"Oh, how could I be so rude?" He stumbled over his words, chiding himself lightly. "I am Ryou Bakura, pleased to make your acquaintance." He said with a bright smile and an outstretched hand.

The shorter of the two smiled back and took the hand of the boy opposite him and shook it.

'At least he's polite.' Yugi thought.

"So, would you care for some tea?" Yugi suggested after releasing the boys handshake.

"Oh, your grandfather said it would be a while – he's waiting on some new biscuits he got at the market to cook, I guess." Ryou said with a somewhat questioning face, as if he were trying to recall the conversation he had had with Mr. Motou before coming up to meet Yugi.

"Hm, well, what would you like to do while we wait?"

"I suppose we could do what our guardians want us to do and compare schedules?" He made the suggestion more as a question and laughed a little, signifying he was probably more comfortable with Yugi making the decision.

"Sure, we could do that!" Yugi said with a smile as he went to his desk and grabbed his class schedule he had printed earlier that week. He turned back to see Ryou holding his schedule, that he had obviously just unfolded from his front pocket, in one hand and holding his head with the other one.

"Ryou?" Yugi asked in a somewhat concerned tone. "Are you okay?"

It was a moment before the platinum blonde boy responded. "Y-yes." He stammered, "I'm sorry, I uh, I just got a little… Uhm, lightheaded for a moment."

"Do you want to sit down?" Yugi asked as he took a step and a half toward the boy and gestured toward his bed.

Ryou shook his head and looked up with a smile, "No thank you, I think I am better now. I just, I have a bit of a tendency of getting overwhelmed rather easily… It's something I've been working on."

"Okay." Yugi returned his smile. "Are you sure you don't just want to take a breather before we get into the chaos that is college schedules?"

The boy laughed, "Well we'll be sitting while we go over the schedules anyway, I assume?"

Yugi nodded.

"Then I don't see why we should make a fuss." Ryou smiled as he took a seat on the floor, crisscrossing his legs in a pretzel shape known fairly well as 'Indian style'.

The shorter of the two took up an identical position opposite the other. They placed their schedules side by side and began to tentatively examine one another's schedules. Nervously unwilling to invade the other's personal space, they reluctantly moved their eyes and guiding fingers over one another's schedules.

"It looks like we have Calc. 1470 together." Ryou said looking up with a smile at the boy beside him.

"And Linguistics 1300!" Yugi exclaimed. "I can't believe you are taking linguistics! Most people hate that kind of stuff!"

"Not me!" Ryou shouted, "I find it all so interesting! I wanted to take some languages this semester as well, but the University told me I had too many credit hours… Who says twenty four credit hours is too much?"

Yugi blinked at the boy in amazement. "Twenty four?!" He asked dumbfounded. "I'm only taking twenty." He mumbled to himself in a somewhat disappointed manner.

"Oh, I think you've misunderstood me. I too am only taking twenty hours; the Dean made me cut Ancient Egyptian for a language since it put me four credit hours over the supposed limit." Ryou frowned at the institution and then laughed.

Yugi began chuckling as well. "We are such nerds." He exclaimed in a fit of laughter; however, the spikey haired boy stopped laughing when he saw Ryou had stopped his giggling and was now holding his head with both hands. "Are you okay? Maybe you should lie down for a moment?" Yugi suggested.

"Oh, no…" Ryou said, bringing his knees up near his chest and resting his forehead on his hands and his elbows on his knees. "No thank you, that is. I will be alright, I'm sorry…"

"Don't apologize. You're fine."

A moment passed and Ryou came back around, "I'm sorry again." He said as he returned to his crisscrossed position.

"Don't worry about it, Ryou." Yugi said with a smile.

"Yugi! Tea is ready!" Mr. Motou's voice called from downstairs.

"Oh, we should get down there." Yugi laughed as he pulled himself up and outstretched a hand for Ryou to take to get up.

The blonde boy looked at the hand blankly for a few seconds before taking it. As if trying to decide whether or not he should or if it would be improper. "Thank you." He said as he got up.

"Don't mention it." Yugi smiled and motioned for Ryou to take the lead down the stairs.

The smell of burnt almond tea cookies filled the main living area of the second floor of the game shop. Yugi shook his head at the scent, 'Oh grandpa…' He thought.

"Oh there you are Ryou." Mrs. Fuyu said. "I hope you two are getting along well enough?"

The blonde boy turned around to face Yugi, either to allow him to answer the question in the form of a statement posed to the two of them or to allow him to pass into the kitchen/dining area.

"Well enough, I think." Yugi said with a smile.

"Oh that's good." Mrs. Fuyu responded with bright eyes. "I'm so happy you two will be able to be friends at DU, it's a very big campus you know? That's where I met Mr. Fuyu… Ah, DU." She said in reminiscence.

"Tea's ready!" Grandpa said as he popped up from behind the kitchen counter. "I hope you all like your tea black… We appear to be out of milk…"

The group nodded that black tea would be fine.

"And I hope you all like your biscuits black… They're a little burnt." He smiled embarrassedly.

As the four of them sat and drank their tea, Yugi noticed Ryou crunching on a blackened tea cookie. He leaned into the boy covertly, "You don't need to eat that, Grandpa won't be offended." He whispered.

"Oh thank god…" Ryou sighed, "It's terribly burnt." He made a sickened face causing Yugi to almost spit his tea.

After a bit of idle chitchat, Grandpa opened his big mouth pushing his ideas on un-wanting individuals, yet again. "Say, Ryou, do you plan on rooming on campus or commuting?"

The boy turned a deep shade of red in record time. Yugi had never seen someone turn so red so quickly.

"I, uh, I am rooming… I, I can't stay at the orphanage any longer…" He formed his sentence with great difficulty.

Yugi subtly facepalmed.

Mrs. Fuyu frowned, "You will always be welcome with us, Ryou. But the law says that once you are of age or go off to school we can't support you anymore…"

"Oh my," Grandpa said, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"We know, it's alright." Mrs. Fuyu said with a reassuring smile toward her host.

"Well Yugi will be staying on the DU campus as well, perhaps, if you don't already have a roommate, Ryou, you two could consider rooming together?" Grandpa suggested.

Yugi subtly facepalmed again.

"Oh that is a wonderful idea!" Mrs. Fuyu exclaimed.

"I, uh," Ryou looked to Yugi with uncertainty, but Yugi just sipped his tea. "We'll have to talk about it, I think." Ryou responded to the overly involved elders. He glanced back to Yugi as if seeking silent confirmation for his response. The spikey haired boy smiled and nodded slightly in Ryou's direction.

It was about four o'clock once the group had finished their tea and the biscuits had been thrown out, Mrs. Fuyu announced that she would be unable to stay for dinner but could send her husband to pick Ryou up later that evening if he wished to stay and their hosts wished to continue to entertain. Of course Grandpa accepted the offer without consulting Yugi; albeit, the young boy would not have objected regardless of whether or not he was having a good or bad time – which at that point he wasn't quite sure which it was.

"How about I man the shop and you two hit the town?" Grandpa suggested.

Both of the teens glanced at each other and then back to Mr. Motou.

"If you're back by seven we can have dinner and maybe watch a movie afterward before Mr. Fuyu gets here?"

The spikey haired boy nodded and said, "Alright, Grandpa! We'll be back around six thirty or so."

* * *

"So how old are you?" Yugi asked. "I'm sixteen."

"I'm seventeen." Ryou said somewhat distantly. "Almost eighteen."

"Cool!" He smiled widely. "I only just turned sixteen this summer." He frowned.

"Are you disappointed about that?" Ryou asked seemingly returning to the real world.

"Well, I'm so young… I mean, for crying out loud I'm going to college and I'm not even tall enough to see over the dashboard of a car…" Yugi said with a pouty face.

"You could probably drive a smart car?" Ryou suggested, seeing one of the vehicles zoom by them on the street.

Yugi laughed, "Because I can afford a smart car."

The taller boy joined in the laughter, "Just a thought."

The two of them turned off the side street they were walking down onto one of the major streets. Needless to say, it was quite crowded. Ryou watched Yugi merge into the large group of bodies, lumbering across the wide sidewalks as if they were a herd of cattle, mindless following one another.

Ryou got into the crowd in an attempt to keep up with Yugi, but the short boy quickly faded into the throng of people. The tall blonde teen twisted and turned in the mess of people; his long hair whipping about himself as he scanned the area around him trying to find any sign of Yugi again. The crowd of people passed and knocked into him, throwing him dirty looks and hissing insults to one another about the "strange boy lost in the streets was getting in everyone's way".

The boy shook his head and felt a growing nauseous dizziness growing inside him. "I…" He mumbled, "I, I can't find my friend…" He whined out, as if trying to get the crowd to help him. Tears began welling up in his eyes. "Yugi." He called out, unable to see anything around him very clearly through his watery vision.

He stood there on the verge of breaking down for what seemed like hours.

"Ryou!" He heard Yugi's voice calling in the distance, but he didn't look up to acknowledge the voice. "Ryou!"

The thinly framed teen finally got back to Ryou, who was still standing where he had been when he lost Yugi. "Ryou, I'm sorry, I thought you were right behind me…" He said as he reached out and loosely grabbed the taller of the two's elbows.

Ryou jerked his arm away and shot a menacing glance at Yugi, causing the boy to take a small step back – a small step was all that the mass of people passing by them allowed.

"I'm sorry." Yugi said with a frown.

The older teen shook his head and held his face in his hands. Yugi couldn't be certain, but he thought Ryou was crying… At least a little, perhaps?

"Come on, Ryou. I'll get us off the main street." Yugi said as he guided the teen out of the mess of people and back onto a moderately empty side street they had come from. Yugi lead Ryou to the side of a building so he could lean against in and regain his bearings. After a few minute the short teen heard the taller teen sniffle. He looked up from his previous position of naval gazing and over toward Yugi. His eyes were damp and his face was red.

Yugi frowned, he felt his heart sink. "I'm sorry Ryou, I thought you were right behind me…"

The blonde boy wiped his nose and rubbed his face. "No, I'm sorry… I, I'm a mess. I, I'm sorry."

"No, don't be sorry, this was my fault I didn't realize you didn't like crowds…"

"I don't even know what it was…" Ryou started, "I mean, I'm usually fine. I've been sort of out of it today."

"Well, just let me know if you're ever feeling out of it again, I don't want you going through something bad…?"

"Alright." Ryou said with a smile, finally seeming to have regained the majority of his external composure. "I think I'm good to go now."

They continued walking down the street, engaging in idle conversation, for a while before Ryou asked where they were headed.

"I thought we could head to Domino Park, there's a little lake thing with a fountain that I really like. It's really calming."

"That's good…" Ryou said. "I think calm is something that I could use right now…"

"Do you want to take a rest?"

"No, no. I'm fine. I just, I want to get to the park." Ryou shot Yugi a brief smile before letting it fade back into obscure aloofness.

* * *

Once they arrived at the park's lake-fountain they sat on a couple of large rocks watching and listening to the water.

After a bit Yugi took his shoes off to wade in the water for a bit. "Isn't this nice? I like to come here when I have a lot of my mind… It helps me get myself sorted."

"Yeah, it is nice." Ryou said as he watched some ducks off on the other side of the lake. "Yugi,"

"Hm?"

"I think I might be crazy."

"What?" Yugi said surprised. "Why do you say that?"

"Nothing. Never mind." Ryou said after a moment of contemplation. "It's nothing."

* * *

_Notes: Well this is the first chapter of 'My Eyes Are Open: For The First Time'. I hope it is at least somewhat entertaining… _

_-I know it's pretty long and sort of off to a slow start, but I hope those of you that read this follow it and review it and all that jazz. That stuff is all pretty motivating and will obviously get me to write more sooner rather than later ^_^_

_-I have wanted to write a Yugioh fan fiction for a pretty long time but have not gotten around to it and just decided that I would do it today. I was conflicted over whether or not to do something Yugioh-specific or an alternate universe story and ended up settling on an AU. If you have any ideas for a Yugioh-specific story that you would like to see me write feel free to send me a personal message. We could co-author! :D_

_-Uh, that's it? I guess haha :P_


	2. Chapter 2

_Summary of Chapter One: Sixteen year old Yugi Motou will soon be off to further his learning at Domino University – albeit, after years and years of being homeschooled after the tragic death of his parents and sister, will the sudden change in scenery be too much for him? It might be too much for his new acquaintance and possible roommate Ryou Bakura, we've seen some signs of his already unstable being. In fact, he's expressed his concerns of being 'crazy' himself, to Yugi. What lies in store for these two? _

_-Also, I forgot to mention in my disclaimer at the start of Chapter One, this story will have slash (boyxboy) fluff, I have qualms about getting lemony in a fan fiction, so that is why the story is rated T, in addition to some moderately heavy themes. I haven't decided who will be paired yet, though I have ideas formulating – and no, Ryou x Yugi is not one of them – but if you have any ideas, suggestions or hopes for a particular pairing(s), please feel free to say so in a review or send me a personal message._

* * *

**Chapter Two**

Rather than risk getting paired with someone completely horrible in addition to appeasing their guardians, Ryou and Yugi decided that they might as well room together for their first term at Domino University. Despite those two reasons that he should be grateful for the setup, Yugi held a small reservation in the back of his mind, well, several reservations that could potentially become big problems.

Ryou had seemed to go through some episodes while he was hanging out with Yugi the first time and then he brought up being crazy… Of course Yugi knew that was something people said rather frivolously, but still, there was that bit of curiosity that enveloped the statement. What had brought the blonde teen to bring up such self-damnation? Such self-doubt? It seemed as if he was truly in pain, loathing himself… Yugi wasn't sure what to say or do at that point, so he did nothing; simply continued wading in the lake. However, the more the boy thought about that exchange the more he regretted not doing something.

It was in the boy's nature to be helpful. He felt a knot in his stomach whenever he thought about Ryou because he didn't do or say something beneficial to the troubled kid. And if anyone knew about being troubled, Yugi thought he certainly did and therefore could have been of at least some help. Regardless, they would see each other soon enough.

Tomorrow was the day the students set to dorm on campus were to move in, so if nothing else Yugi could monitor Ryou, at least a bit, to see if he was still having the same issues. Maybe he could even bring up the boys self-doubt, if the moment were appropriate that is.

* * *

"Yugi!" Grandpa's voice carried up the stairs. "I hope you packed yesterday,' He said poking his head into the boy's room, 'Mr. Fuyu has brought their car around with Ryou, they're offering you a ride to Domino University and you're going to have to take it – I can't leave the shop today…" He said with a hint of remorse for not being able to see his grandson off into the real world.

The groggy teen sat up wearily in his bed and rubbed his eyes, 'Yeah, I packed last night. I'll be ready in a bit, I need to get dressed and brush my teeth…' He said with sleep still thick in his voice and on his person.

As his grandpa removed himself from the boy's room, Yugi swung himself out of bed and stretched. Sending his arms up into the air he groaned himself awake. He unbuttoned his nightshirt and tossed it on his bed, then removed his pants and boxers, doing the same with those and then replacing them on his person with fresh, clean clothes for the day. He wore a fetching cobalt blue blazer over an open-front white button down, collared shirt and then a black undershirt. He normally wore something like this, some variation of it, because he enjoyed the familiarity; although, today he felt like being a bit more adventurous. He swapped his usual dark blue jeans out with a pair of bluish-black leather pants and topped the whole look off with a black dog collar. Taking a moment to look himself over in his full body mirror on his door, making sure nothing was out of place, he smiled.

_"I look good.'_ He thought and then laughed a bit.

After brushing his teeth, Yugi walked down the stairs to the living area above his grandpa's game shop and saw Mr. Fuyu and Ryou sitting somewhat uncomfortably on the couch.

"Hello Mr. Fuyu, hello Ryou." Yugi said and waved with a smile to the two, who both stood up immediately at the sound of their host's voice.

"Hello Yugi." They both said in unison.

"Is my grandpa downstairs?" Yugi asked, looking around from his position at the base of the staircase.

"Yes," Mr. Fuyu said, "He had to tend to the shop and told us we could wait up here. Hope you don't mind?"

The spikey haired teen smiled and shook his head no, "Not at all, Mr. Fuyu. You two could have made yourself more comfortable, though." He laughed meekly, while thinking, _'These people are very formal… It's kinda weird.'_

"Where are your bags?" Ryou asked with his usual soft voice.

"Oh, they're up in my room, I wasn't sure if we wanted anything to eat or if we wanted to hit the road right away?"

Mr. Fuyu fidgeted slightly with his hands, "It's up to you, Yugi," he started, "it's your house, after all." He smiled faintly.

"I'm perfectly alright." Yugi said, sensing his ride's hesitation to waiting. "We can head out now if you want."

"Okay," Mr. Fuyu said with a smile, "Ryou, would you like to help Yugi with his bags? I'll go start the car."

Ryou nodded to his guardian and turned to Yugi with a smile, "Would you like any help?" He asked daintily.

"Sure!"

The quiet blonde followed his host up the stairs and into his room and then asked, "are you nervous?"

"About school?" Yugi asked. "A little, I'm just going to try to make the best out of it. Are you?"

"I'm terrified." Ryou admitted. "But I guess it is good that we aren't going in completely alone…"

"That's what I was thinking." Yugi smiled while handing one of the lighter bags to his soon-to-be roommate. "Did you go to school or were you homeschooled?" He asked as he bent down to pick up the last two bags of his.

Ryou didn't answer at first as he was somewhat distracted by the boy's well-fitted pants. "Oh, a bit of both I guess." He said a few moments later. "I mean, I only started attending the Academy in town two years ago. Up until then I had been homeschooled since I was about nine…"

"Oh, can I ask why?" Yugi asked with a smile as he gestured for Ryou to make his way to the door.

"I, uh-" He started as he moved toward the door, "I don't, uh, I don't mean to be rude, but I'd rather not talk about it." He said with a hesitant voice.

"That's perfectly fine, Ryou." Yugi said with a reassuring smile even though the boy in front of him could not see it. "What was going to the Academy like? I've been homeschooled since about sixth grade."

"It was big," he said, "full of people… Some of them were not very nice, either."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, but I tried to stay out of things there. I'm not a big proponent of confrontation."

Yugi laughed, "I'm not either, but sometimes you just have to standup for what you believe in, right?"

"I guess." Ryou said, not willing to engage in further discussion on the matter, it appeared.

"Do you know if any of the kids there are going to DU?"

"Probably." He shrugged, "I think I know of at least three people that will be there; though I don't really know them that well."

"What are their names?" Yugi asked with a smile as they had reached the bottom of the last flight of stairs and were in the main bit of the game shop. "Maybe we'll have classes with them."

"Well there's this one girl, her name is Téa, and she was always very friendly to everyone." He said turning to allow Yugi to go on ahead of him through the shop. "Then Tristan, he always seemed sort of distant to me… But he was nice too, I suppose. Then Joey."

"Bye grandpa!" Yugi called over to his guardian who was just finishing checking out a customer who was purchasing a case of dice. "What about him? Was he nice?" He turned to ask Ryou.

"Goodbye, my boy! I will miss you." He said with a teary voice as he ran up and hugged his grandson.

"Goodbye, grandpa." Yugi squeaked out as his grandpa nearly crushed the air out of his lungs.

Once they had gotten outside Ryou answered Yugi's question, "Joey had his moments, he can be a bit… Rude, I suppose is the word, but then he can also be quiet sweet. Rather protective of his friends, I think."

The spikey haired teen smiled, "Well that's good! Do you think, if we see them, we should become their friends?"

Ryou shrugged, "Up to you, I guess."

Yugi laughed at what an awkward person Ryou was and said, "Okay."

Unfortunately, for Yugi, the car ride to DU was especially awkward. Mr. Fuyu was an incredibly nervous driver and refused to have the radio on and wasn't too keen on conversations being carried out while driving – even if he wasn't parleying himself. So for the most part, the three hour ride from Domino City down to Domino University was silent. On the up side, if you want to call it that, Yugi got time to think about if he wanted to become friends with the people Ryou was talking about. He knew that the chances of actually ever seeing those people were rather slim since DU was such a massive university with nearly every kid from Domino City attending it. Yet, he couldn't help but wonder if maybe he really did want friends… For a while he didn't think he needed any at all, he never really had any. But Ryou seemed like a good person, so far – even though they had only really known each other for about a week and only ever talked twice. Despite that Yugi felt like maybe he did want some friends after all.

Once they had finally arrived at DU, Mr. Fuyu parked his car and helped the two roommates carry their bags up to their dormitory. To their surprise, there were four beds in the room.

"I thought DU dorms only housed two people?" Yugi asked more rhetorically.

"They did when I went here…" Mr. Fuyu said. "Although, the room does look bigger than they did when I attended."

The room was rather spacious and seemed like it would be a waste of potential for just two people to share such large space since the university was forced to accommodate for so many students.

"Anyway, I'll have to let you two get settled in on your own." Mr. Fuyu said. "The shop is calling me back."

They said their goodbyes and Ryou and Yugi began to unpack their bags.

"Ryou, which bed do you want?" Yugi asked gesturing to the four single beds that sat against the two walls opposite each other.

"Uhm, whichever."

"Well do you think we should be opposite each other or along the same wall? What do you think our other roommates will want…?"

"I don't know?" Ryou said with a laugh, this was the first time the boy had actually laughed, Yugi thought.

The spikey haired boy laughed as well, "I guess that is a silly thing to ask."

They ended up taking beds along the same wall, figuring if their other roommates wanted to change that up they could – they were only beds after all. As Yugi was finishing putting away his clothes in the drawers under his bed, Ryou was finishing putting on the sheets to his mattress. They were a pale, powder blue color, much like the button down shirt he was wearing, with a light brown trim. Then he tossed a fluffy, down comforter atop it all, which was striped blue and white with light brown accents. Yugi wasn't sure if Ryou had gotten all that together or if he was just that good at matching colors and patterns.

Once Ryou had finished he threw himself onto his bed and stared up at the bumpy ceiling above them.

A short while passed and Yugi closed the drawers under his bed and stood up to get his bed ready. "What are you thinking about?" He asked his roommate.

"Nothing really." The platinum blonde said, not moving from his outstretched position on his bed. "I'm nervous about like everything."

"Don't worry about it, Ryou." Yugi said as he pulled out his bed sheets from his last bag, the bag Ryou had carried for him. "I'm sure we'll have a good time once everything gets going." He smiled.

"I hope so." A moment passed while Yugi dressed his bed and then plopped down onto it much like the other teen had done. "Yugi," Ryou started, "can I tell you something?"

"Sur-" Yugi started to say as the door swung open and laughter burst into the room – ceasing when the owners of the booming laughter noticed the two boys now sitting up in their beds.

"Hello, I'm Yugi and this is Ryou!" Yugi said as he hopped out of his bed and walked toward the two new roommates with a smile and an outstretched hand.

"Hey I know you!" The blonde boy in a green jacket said pointing at Yugi, "You're always at this game shop I go to!"

Ryou stood and quietly observed the situation from beside his bed.

"I'm Joey and this is Tristan, pleased to meet you two." The boy said again gesturing to the tall guy with short brown hair and a long jacket.

"You've seen me at the game shop? My grandpa owns that place." Yugi said smiling. "Wait, Joey and Tristan? Ryou, don't you know them?"

Ryou blushed slightly, "I don't really know them, we jus-"

"Hey Ryou," Tristan said, "yeah we went to school together."

"Oh yeah," Joey said, "Sorry pal, didn't remember." He laughed. "Anyway, what's up? What's there to do around here?"

Yugi shrugged, "Not really sure, we just unpacked and now we're sitting around."

"Ah that's lame," Joey said, "we gotta go explore this place, find the hangouts for the cute girls and get in with the cool kids."

"Joey, this isn't high school…" Tristan said with an annoyed look on his face while he started to unpack his own luggage.

"The same rules still apply!" Joey shouted.

"God, I hope not." Ryou mumbled causing Yugi to turn to him with a questioning look. "Don't worry." He whispered to Yugi in an attempt to dispel his concern while Joey and Tristan began arguing over the 'rules' of social interaction between high school and university.

"Anyway," Yugi said, "after you guys are done unpacking we could go explore if you want? See if there are any other people we know? Or, I guess, any other people _you_ all know." He laughed though the joke was lost on the two newcomers.

"What do ya mean?" Joey asked.

"Oh, I have been homeschooled since about sixth grade, so I don't really know anyone." Yugi explained.

"Why?" Joey asked quite pointedly as he sat on his undressed bed while Tristan rolled his eyes and unpacked his own clothes.

"It's kind of a long story…" Yugi said rubbing the back of his neck uneasily.

"So you don't want to tell it?" Joey asked.

"Well, I mean… I don't want to put you all on the spot with something sort of personal?"

Ryou nodded as if he understood what Yugi meant, though Joey clearly didn't.

"Go ahead, shoot." He said.

"When I was pretty young my uh, my house burned down…" Yugi started, "my parents and sister died and I moved in with my grandpa." He made a slanted, nervous face, unsure if he should continue or not. "I continued to go to school for a while, but got picked on quite a bit."

"Fer what?" Joey asked.

Yugi blushed a little, "well, I am really short for my age an-"

"How old are ya?"

"Sixteen?" Yugi answered.

"Joey, leave him alone." Tristan ordered.

"I'm just askin'!" Joey snapped. "Yeah, you are kinda short."

Ryou shifted on his feet somewhat nervously and Yugi just turned a deeper shade of red.

"I'm not bein' mean, just sayin'." Joey added.

"I know."

"Was there something else?"

This time Yugi didn't say anything, he just sat on the edge of his bed.

"Joey, I told you to leave the kid alone." Tristan said again now sitting on his made up bed.

At this point Ryou was the only one still standing. "Yugi, let's go for a walk." He suggested.

"Oh we'll come with ya!" Joey said.

"Actually Joey, I'm hungry, let's go get some grub." Tristan offered an escape for Ryou and Yugi.

"Oh god! I'm starvin'! You read my mind, pal." Joey laughed as he hopped up and ran for the door.

"See ya." Tristan said as he closed the door behind him.

Ryou watched the door close and then turned slightly on his heels to see Yugi just sitting quietly on his bed. "Yugi?" He asked gently.

"I, uh," he started in response, "I've never really talked about that with anyone."

The blonde boy in the powder blue shirt frowned, not sure of what to say. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… I'm fine." Yugi said looked up from his previous line of sight examining his knees. "Were you going to say something before they came in?"

"Hm?" Ryou asked, "Oh yeah, it's not important though."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, if it comes up later I'll tell you." He assured. "Did you want to go walk around for a bit?"

"If you want to," Yugi said, "doesn't really matter to me, I guess."

"We might as well." Ryou smiled standing in the same position he had been since Joey and Tristan and barged into the room.

"Alright, let's go." Yugi smiled back at the boy he now felt comfortable enough to call his friend.

* * *

_Notes: Like I said, this will be slashy fluff ;) Not sure between who yet though and I have no qualms with adding characters or taking suggests from all you readers! If you have any feel free to say so in a review or send me a personal message – which may actually be a better choice as I may soon forget after reading the review haha_

_-Do my characters seem at least somewhat true to their anime personalities? I am trying to do them justice – if you have any suggests for improvements, again, feel free to say so in a review or a personal message. _

_-If any of you don't know, I also have an ongoing fan fiction for the movie 'Rise of the Guardians' called 'The Little Rabbit', feel free to check that out hehe_


	3. Chapter 3

_Summary of Chapter Two: Yugi and Ryou arrived at DU and quickly got settled in, only to have their other two roommates arrive in a rather noisy fashion. They're arrival interrupted a key moment in Ryou trying to finally open up to Yugi about something seemingly mysterious and Yugi discussed for the first time ever in front of people he didn't really know his parent's tragic deaths and the reason for his homeschooling – well one of his reasons for being homeschooled. Once they parted ways to explore the campus, Ryou was no longer in a mood to open up to Yugi and Yugi was somewhat distraught by having to divulge his somewhat dark past, so they decided to go for a walk and that is where we left off._

* * *

**Chapter Three**

It had been nearly a week since students staying on campus arrived and just two days fewer than that since classes started and Joey had still not unpacked his suitcases or made his bed. Yugi had almost made his bed for him several times – both of which he was talked down by Ryou or Tristan.

The group had become moderately close, though no spectacular friendship had budded from their being roommates in this short while; which wasn't necessarily surprising. Joey and Tristan were wilder and tended to spend more time out partying with the fraternities and trying to pick up girls from the sororities while Ryou and Yugi remained the recluses that they had been prior to attending Domino University. Albeit, they had found and been introduced to the girl Ryou had mentioned on their way to the university, Téa – who actually remembered Ryou and gave him a hug, which Yugi could tell made the poor kid pretty uncomfortable.

Yugi and Téa had Art 1110 together, Sculpture Basics, and they both had Calc 1470 with Ryou. But sharing classes with Téa wasn't what stood out to Ryou and Yugi. What stood out to them, or rather punched them in the face, was that in Calc 1740 there was a guy that looked suspiciously like Yugi… If twins could be different ages, he could certainly pass for Yugi's older twin. They weren't sure if anyone other than themselves had noticed the similarities and didn't want to bring it up. The Yugi-lookalike usually appeared to be off to the back of class doing what appeared to be brooding. Deep in thought with the same general expression on his face. Ryou said he looked somewhat unsettling, as if he were silently planning to kill everyone in the class. Yugi dismissed his friend's concerns as simply him being his usual self.

* * *

It was Tuesday morning, almost nine; Joey and Tristan were still fast asleep but Ryou and Yugi had been up for the last hour or so getting ready for their nine o'clock calculus class.

"Do you have Téa's notes?" Ryou asked Yugi.

"Yup." He said waving a pink flowery notebook at Ryou. "Shame about her cat…" He said.

"I'm sure they'll find it sooner or later." Ryou said as he packed up the things he needed for class into his messenger bag. "I don't think I would skip class to find a cat…" He added a little quieter than usual.

Yugi chuckled, "Me neither, but she really loves her cat, and it's not like she pays much attention in class anyway, her notes are filled with doodles!" He laughed.

Ryou joined in the laughter until Joey rolled over onto his face and mumbled something about burritos into his mattress.

"Speaking of class, we should probably get going." Ryou said as he pulled up the sleeve of his egg shell colored sweater to check his watch. "We're going to be late if we don't go now."

On their way across the sprawling DU campus, the pair passed what would shake the very morals of anyone unadjusted to modern university life in Domino. The strangest of all being a random guy, they weren't even sure if he was a student, but he was usually in the bushes in front of Maximillion Hall. This guy, so Tristan told them, was apparently called Stormageddon, for some reason, and would have sex with anyone who wanted to in those bushes. Today was no different; as they passed they heard the unmistakable sounds of sex coming from the ruffling leaves of the shrub. Ryou dropped his head in embarrassment and quickly picked up his pace. Yugi had to practically run to catch up to the taller boy.

"I hate that guy." Ryou said in a hushed tone once Yugi had caught up with him.

"Why?" Yugi asked.

"Every day, on my way back from Physics 3200 he throws things at me and calls me names…"

"What?!" Yugi said in an astonished tone. "Why?!"

"I don't know…"

"What kind of names does he call you?"

"Never mind, we have to get to class." Ryou said as he picked up his pace yet again.

Yugi moved to follow his friend and added in a quiet manner, "I'm sorry, Ryou."

To which the lanky teen only said, "Don't worry about it."

* * *

Calculus was just about as boring as it usually was. While nearly everyone else it the class was passed out in their books or on Facebook on their laptops, Ryou was sitting there with his characteristically perfect posture taking notes for not only himself but Téa as well, since Yugi had fallen behind on his own notes. The professor, with his monotone voice, seemed like he was about to put himself to sleep on three separate occasions that morning and Yugi took that as a sign to simply give up trying to catch up.

He turned to watch Ryou jumping between writing notes in his own notebook and writing the exact same notes in Téa's.

"Ryou, you're crazy." Yugi smiled at his friend. "No one else is taking notes today."

The platinum blonde looked around somewhat confused, "Your double is." He said as he returned his attention to the front of the class.

Yugi blinked a moment then looked toward the back of the room and saw the guy that looked eerily like himself taking notes rather similarly to Ryou, not so much distant but rather stoic, almost statuesque. Unable to snap out of his creeper stare, Yugi continued to examine the man's features. This guy was so similar to Yugi in nearly every way physically it was spooky. However, after a few moments the other Yugi looked up from his notebook and shot a knowing glance at Yugi, then turned back to his notebook.

Yugi blushed and quickly turned back around. "I think he just saw me." He whispered embarrassedly to Ryou.

"I'm sure he did, Yugi," He whispered back, while still taking notes, "you were staring at him for like eight minutes."

_'Eight minutes?!'_ Yugi thought to himself in astonishment. "Are you sure?"

Ryou pulled up his sleeve and checked his watch once more. "Yup. I timed you."

Yugi made a face, "Why? Never mind, it does matter… I can't believe I was just looking at him for almost ten minutes…" He frowned.

"Maybe he didn't really see you." Ryou suggested.

"We made eye contact…"

"Maybe he finds you attractive."

"What?" Yugi said in a wave of confusion.

"Or maybe he was trying to figure out why you were staring at him… Maybe he was trying to memorize your face so he could find you and beat you up?"

"Ryou, stop talking."

"Just trying to help." Ryou said as he returned to taking double notes. "I wasn't sure what you wanted me to say."

Yugi frowned. _'Gosh, I hope it wasn't any of those reasons…'_ He thought to himself, slumping deep into his chair, hoping to disappear.

After class got out at eleven thirty Ryou and Yugi collected their things and Yugi had volunteered to take Téa's notebook since Ryou had taken her notes. As they were walking out of the room, engaging in some idle conversation, Yugi, not watching where he was going, accidently bumped into a rather tall figure and dropped his and Téa's notebooks.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry," He started as he knelt down to pick up the notebooks, "I wasn't watching where I was going." He got up and saw before him the taller him in black leather pants, a dark blue jacket with a bit of a flare and a black t-shirt under it. "I uh," He began.

"Don't worry about it." His voice came out low and commanding. Yugi could only nod.

"Well we should get off to lunch now." Ryou said as he felt the uncomfortable silence that would inevitably come creeping in.

"Y-yeah," Yugi stammered, "see ya."

"Bye." The taller man said, adding as he turned away, "Nice notebook, by the way."

As they walked away, Ryou said, "Who's the crazy one now?"

The spikey haired teen turned a deep shade of red. "Thanks for rescuing me again, Ryou…"

"No problem. At least he liked your notebook."

Yugi smiled and looked down, seeing Téa's pink, floral notebook in his hands. "Oh god…" He said.

"Well… At least he wasn't a jerk?" Ryou attempted to redeem the situation but to no avail.

* * *

Once they had made it to the Student Union they looked around for their small group, Joey and Tristan were sitting with their friend they made at one of their many crashed fraternity parties. Ryou and Yugi hadn't met him yet but they had heard that his name was Duke or something like that.

"There they are." Yugi said pointing toward a table across the courtyard where Joey and Tristan were sitting with someone Yugi could only guess was this Duke fellow, but there was someone else too. He had his back turned toward the approaching duo, so all they could tell was that he was wearing a black denim jacket and had almost white hair, almost whiter than Ryou's, Yugi thought.

"Who," Ryou started, "who is that with them?"

"Must be that Duke person they were talking about."

"No, I mean the other guy…"

"Oh, not sure." Yugi said, wondering the same thing, "I don't think I've ever seen him before. Maybe he's one of Duke's friends?"

"I-" Ryou started, but quickly shook his head as if trying to shake the thought from his immediate mind.

"What is it?" Yugi asked in a concerned tone.

"Nothing."

"Are you sure…?"

"I don't think I'm hungry right now."

"What? You were just saying how hungry you were when we were getting out of class?"

"I guess I lost my appetite." He shrugged then folded his arms in a manner that appeared like he was holding himself while shifting uncomfortably on his feet.

Yugi gave his friend an odd look of questioning. "Ryou, what's up?"

"Nothing."

The spikey haired boy put his hands on his hips and began tapping his foot, annoyed.

"What?" The blonde boy snapped in defense.

"For real, what is going on?" Yugi demanded. "Is it because you weren't expecting someone else?"

The boy stood silent, examining his shoes.

"Ryou, please, we're friends and I want to help…"

"I got a bad feeling about whoever that is, I don't want to go over there." Ryou said all of a sudden. "I don't want to meet him."

Yugi wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't expecting the shy boy he had come to know the past week or so to be so blunt. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Well… We told them we would meet Duke…" Yugi said in an attempt to get Ryou to cave.

"I'm not going over there." Ryou said sharply.

A moment passed before Yugi let out a defeated sigh. Not wanting to put his friend in an even more awkward position that he usually put himself in, he suggested, "Do you want to go to the library and I'll bring you some food after I've talked to them all for a bit?"

Ryou looked up at the clouds, still holding his arms in a hug-like embrace. "Sure." He sighed. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't be sorry." He smiled. "I'll make your excuses to them."

"Thanks." The taller of the two said quickly as he turned to face the direction of the DU Library.

Yugi watched his friend walk off quickly in the opposite direction. _'What is going on with that kid…?'_ He thought to himself, scratching his head in confusion.

"Hey Yugi!" Joey shouted as he saw the short teen approaching one of the courtyard picnic tables the group had chosen that day.

The boy waved to the small group and smiled. As he neared they inquired about Ryou's whereabouts.

"Oh, he was on his way here with me but remembered a big project he has coming up so he went to…" He paused in shock as he noticed the individual that had caused Ryou to really not want to meet up with the group. This guy looked almost exactly like Ryou; like how that one guy in calculus looked almost identical to Yugi, it was freaky.

"To where?" Joey said, snapping Yugi from his awkward trance. "Where did Ryou go?"

"Oh, sorry, he went to the library to study…" He said.

"Isn't he hungry? Didn't you two just come from math?" Tristan asked. "Oh, by the way, this is Duke," he added, gesturing to the tall slender figure wearing a red jacket with the sleeves cut off over a black tank top. He nodded his head, acknowledging Yugi, "and this is, Tozoku?" Tristan continued shifting his gaze to the mysterious Ryou-lookalike to make sure that was in fact his name.

The figure nodded and stood up to shake Yugi's hand. "It's a pleasure." He said in a rather deadpan manner.

Yugi smiled, trying to remove any possible sign of discomfort in front of the rest of the group. "Nice to meet you both, my name is Yugi."

"Yeah, we met Tozoku a few nights ago at a party and then saw him here just now so we were saying 'hey'," Tristan started before Joey jumped in.

"We wanted him and Ryou to meet because they look so crazy alike, right?!" He shouted at Yugi hoping for him to confirm their thoughts.

Yugi quickly moved his gaze around the group and smiled. "Yeah," he started, "the resemblance is uncanny."

"Well guys, I have to get going." The individual of conversation said as he gathered up his books from the picnic table. "Class in ten."

"Alright man, see ya 'round some time." Joey said.

"Sure thing." Tozoku said as he took his leave.

Yugi turned back to the remaining trio and smiled meekly. "Have you guys had lunch yet?"

"Not yet," Tristan started before being interrupted.

"We were waitin' fer you 'n' Ryou." Joey said.

So the group went off to get some food and returned to their spot in the courtyard.

"So Joey said you were homeschooled?" Duke asked with a mouth full of chicken. "What's that like?"

Yugi shrugged, "Just like regular school, I guess?"

The group started laughing but Yugi just looked at them with a confused expression. "What?" He asked, "What did I say?"

"Being at home and being at school are completely different." Tristan said.

"Regardless of whether or not you're learning." Duke stuck his tongue out at the littlest of the group.

"And in Joey's case, not." Tristan added with continued laughter from the group.

As they continued to eat, Yugi couldn't help but find himself staring at Duke's peculiar earring. It was a single die on a string about three inches from his earlobe, he had never seen anything quite like it and was somewhat enthralled by the uniqueness of it.

"What are you looking at?" Duke said twisting around to see behind him. "Do I have something on me?" He added, examining his shoulder and shirt.

Yugi blushed. "Sorry, I was sort of zoned out…"

"Oh, no problem. You had me worried for a second, though." Duke laughed.

The embarrassed teen put his hand over the back of his neck and apologized again, "Yeah, sorry about that," he laughed, "I was looking at your die."

"Hm?" Duke sounded his confusion.

"Your earring, Duke." Tristan said not looking up from his meal.

"Oh!" He laughed. "Sometimes I forget it's there."

Yugi just chuckled a bit, not sure how to respond.

After a while the group broke up to get to their various classes and, in Yugi's case, hunt down the elusive Ryou…

* * *

Yugi was walking into the library, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible as he was sneaking a small bowl of rice into the building for Ryou. It was later than he had thought he would be reuniting with the platinum blonde teen and figured he had probably already grabbed something to eat, but he wanted to have something just in case. After about ten minutes, or so, of searching the vast maze of bookcases, the spikey haired boy finally found his friend sitting on the floor between several of the farthest bookshelves with a few books scattered around him.

"Hey Ryou!" Yugi whispered with a smile as he walked down the long aisle between the shelves. "What are you reading?"

The boy looked up with a glum expression. Yugi gasped and then sorely regretted it as his reaction seemed like it took Ryou closer to bursting into tears. The lanky teen had a black eye and a bruised up, cut lip; he had clearly been crying.

"Ryou!" Yugi said in a hushed but panicked voice as he quickly moved up to his friend and knelt down beside him. "What happened? Who did this?"

"Shhh!" A librarian could be heard hissing reprimands in the background but Yugi didn't pay attention to it.

"Don't worry about it." Ryou let out in a shaky voice. "It's nothing, really. It's over."

Yugi let himself fall from a semi-kneeling, semi-crouching position onto his rear end and then folded his legs, crisscross. "Was it that guy from the bushes?" He demanded in as a neutral tone he could manage.

When the battered boy didn't say anything, his investigator of a friend took it as a 'yes'.

"Why would he do this?" Yugi asked somewhat rhetorically, but also with the hope he could possibly get some type of answer.

"Yugi, please, I don't want to talk about it…" Ryou said in a weak and afraid voice. "Please."

The boy frowned in response to his friend shutting himself up like that, but then he just moved himself into a sitting position directly beside Ryou and handed him the small bowl of rice he had brought for him.

Taking the bowl of rice in his hands, Ryou said, "thank you," to both the food and the end of the conversation. A few minutes passed before either of them spoke again.

"So Duke seems nice," Yugi informed his friend, "kinda quiet though, at least at first."

Ryou didn't say anything; he didn't know what to say.

"I think he was disappointed he didn't get to meet you."

"Hm."

"I said you had a project you had to study up for."

"Thanks."

Yugi sighed. "Ryou, why are you being so closed-up lately?"

A moment passed before the boy answered. "Yugi, I was abused as a child."

The shorter of the pair's eyes grew wide. "I, uh-"

"Don't worry; you don't have to say anything." Ryou said. "After my dad died my mom remarried… He was terrible… It was terrible…" He said in a quiet and weak voice.

"Eventually someone found out, I don't know who, maybe a neighbor or something… Maybe my mom reported it?" He said with a hint of wishful thinking in his voice but then sighed. "That's when I got put up with Mr. and Mrs. Fuyu, I lived with them for six years, and the other eleven years of my life I either can't remember or only remember abuse…" His voice was quivering now; he sounded as if he were on the brink of tears.

"I," Yugi stuttered, "Ryou, I am so sorry… I, I didn't mean to push or force you into telling me, I-"

"You didn't." The boy said. "I've been trying to get the courage to say it for a while now… It's a shame it took this to do it." He scowled at his own inhibitions and shortcomings.

Yugi frowned. "Is there anything I can do?"

"No," Ryou said after a moment of wondering, "I don't think so, but thank you."

* * *

_Notes: Well this got dark quickly; albeit, it is under the 'drama' genre. Anyway, if anyone would prefer some lightheartedness thrown into it more than the drama and the darkness, just let me know. Then again, if you're comfortable with these deeper, darker themes, I have no qualms with continuing them. _

_-On a side note, if you couldn't tell, Tozoku is the 'Dark' or 'Yami' Bakura from the anime TV series :O According to someplace/some people on the internet 'Tozokuo Bakura' was the Japanese version of the title 'Thief King Bakura' and since there was no other name I could find to use for the 'Dark' Bakura, I went with that. *shrugs* It is what it is. _

_-As always, reviews, favorites, follows, etc. are all appreciated :)_

_-I work a double tomorrow, so don't expect a chapter, I'm afraid. Though I may get one out… Just don't get your hopes up!_

_-Kbyes xox3oxo_


	4. Chapter 4

_Summary of Chapter Three: Yugi was caught staring creepily at his could-be older, taller twin and then awkwardly bumped into the guy after calculus. After that Ryou had a nervous episode and refused to meet Tristan and Joey's friend Duke and an unknown individual – who Yugi later found out to be someone named Tozoku, the could-be older twin of Ryou :O Then to end the chapter, Yugi found a beaten and battered Ryou in the library where the taller of the two confessed to having being abused as a child by his stepfather. Rather dark chapter, if I do say so myself… While rereading it to write this chapter, I actually started to cry…_

* * *

**Chapter Four**

Finally, the week was almost over. It was Friday, that meant that after the last of their classes, Yugi and his small group of friends could say with, at least some amount, of pride that they had made it through their first two weeks of University. Duke had begun to hang out with Tristan and Joey more often and Yugi and Ryou, as well as Téa, who had been somewhat distant from her old Academy friends due to moderate difficulty adapting to University life, had slowly begun to gravitate toward hanging out with them.

Téa found her cat in a somewhat deplorable health, what do you expect when you're taken in by an old, lonely woman who insists on feeding you everything but the kitchen sink? Anyway, needless to say she was quite relieved and very pleased with Ryou's scholarly notes for calculus.

Speaking of calculus. Of course the first thing, upon her return to class, Téa had to say was, "Yugi, do you have an older brother? – No? – Wow, that's freaky," all while ogling at the mysteriously quiet, Yugi-lookalike in the back of the room; despite him clearly seeing her. If anything, Yugi had to give her credit for being fearless of what others thought of her – either that or she was simply oblivious to the rules of proper social conduct, which even Yugi and Ryou, being homeschooled for a good portion of their lives, had at least a bit of understanding of those rules.

It was Friday, but that meant one more long and grueling day of calculus before the week was officially over for Yugi and Ryou. Two and a half hours of calculus…

Unfortunately, for Yugi, getting Ryou up had become increasingly difficult the last few days. The poor boy had slipped into a bit of a funk ever since being attacked on Monday evening – the perpetrator of which, he would still not divulge the identity of. Téa, the darling that she is, showed Ryou how to cover his war-wounds with a bit of makeup without it showing and giving the bullies more of a reason to torment her friend. The whole time she was going on about how it was terrible that they even had to worry about stuff like this in University, "Some people never grow up," seemed to be her go-to cliché during that conversation as she repeated it at least ten times throughout her spiel.

"Ryou, you have twenty minutes to get some breakfast or shower or whatever it is you want to do this morning before we _have_ to leave for class." Yugi said.

The platinum blonde just waved his hand and rolled over into his pillow, mumbling something; his messy bedhead sticking up into the air.

"C'mon, I don't want to be late again." Yugi pleaded.

After a moment without any reaction the spikey haired boy just went and sat on the edge of his bed and sighed. "I'll leave without you?" He threatened unconvincingly, ending in another sigh.

"Can I skip class?" Ryou said meekly.

Yugi looked up from his knees, surprised to see the boy turned over in bed, wrapped in his covers with a very sad expression on his face. He frowned.

"Will it make you feel any better?"

Taking a moment to contemplate the notion, the depressed teen shook his head disappointedly. "No. I don't think it would…"

"Then I don't think you should skip, Ryou. It's not going to help anything."

A few more minutes passed before the boy sat up in his bed, his usual perfect posture abandoned in favor of a defeated slouch. "Can I at least go like this?" He asked looking at his friend.

"In your pajamas?"

He nodded.

"Can you at least brush your teeth?"

"Well I'm not a dirtball…" He said smiling lightly at his friend, who chuckled in return.

"Okay, well we have ten-ish minutes before we need to get out of here, so yeah."

"Yugi," Ryou said, "I'm sorry you have to parent me…"

The shorter of the two shot a confused expression to his friend. "Huh?"

"Never mind." He said beginning to retreat back into a slump on the bed.

"You're my friend," Yugi said quickly, "I'd expect you to do the same for me, Ryou." He smiled as he moved to pull Ryou out of his bed. "Don't worry, after today we've got two days of rest and relaxation."

Feigning a smile and half a laugh, Ryou stood up from his sitting position on his bed, with Yugi's aid. "Have you brushed yet?"

"Yeah, I'll wait here," The smaller of the two said, "maybe read a little."

"Okay, I'll be quick."

After about five minutes, Yugi glanced at the wall clock and frowned, they were probably going to be late to calculus for the second day in a row. Putting his Linguistics book down, the boy got up from his bed and made a quiet exit, so not to wake Joey and Tristan from their fifth day of skipping whatever eight a.m. class they had that day. Walking down the halls of their dormitory wasn't something Yugi found any particular joy in, but that morning it was unnaturally quiet, and he enjoyed that. It was a nice change of pace from the usual helter-skelter that plagued the building twenty four, seven.

Upon reaching the bathroom door Yugi knocked. The bathrooms of DU were odd, Yugi had never experienced a place quite like it and couldn't say he was a particular fan and rather thankful that he had such earlier classes not many people were ever around when he needed to use them – he thought Ryou probably felt the same.

There was no answer, which was odd because Ryou should be in the section right by the door… After the boy knocked again and there was still no answer be pushed his way into the bathroom.

First thing when you walked in were a series of six sinks and a single paper towel dispenser, how convenient, right? As he examined the area he saw Ryou's toothbrush and toothpaste sitting on the sink, he had brushed his teeth but where was he? Walking through into the next section there was the bathroom stalls – all four of them. No one was in them, judging by the gaps at the bottoms of each stall. However, Yugi heard a shower running from the next section further in. He passed into the next section which housed several showers with curtains and then a massive section for open bathing.

"Ryou?" Yugi called, "we have to get to class… Are you showering?"

There was no answer, so the spikey haired teen ducked down to see if he could see any bare feet under the curtains of the showers to see which one was being used. After a moment he got to the one where he assumed Ryou was in. Yugi gasped; the water was running red.

"Ryou!" He hissed in a nervous whisper. "Ryou is that you? What are you doing to yourself?!"

"Yugi, leave me alone." The boy said through the curtain.

The other boy shook his head, "I'm getting you out of here." He said with determination, grabbing a towel off the rack and then pulling the curtain back. Covering his eyes slightly so not to make either of the boys uncomfortable, he reached in and shut the shower head off.

As he did this he noticed Ryou was not wet. He wasn't in the running water, but off to the side, in his boxer briefs with bleeding inner thighs. Yugi let his hand, covering his eyes, drop down beside himself.

"Ryou, what are you doing?" He frowned handing his friend the towel, unable to stop staring at the streams of blood trickling down his legs from the several cuts the boy had made just under his boxer briefs' hemlines.

"I asked you to leave me alone." Ryou said, taking the towel and wrapping himself in its entirety.

"Why are you doing this?" Yugi demanded.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I don't care," Yugi said, "you can't do this and not expect me to demand answers."

"I didn't ask you to come here; I didn't ask you barge into the shower." Ryou snapped, "In fact, I seem to recall telling you to go away."

A moment passed while the shorter of the two stood tapping his foot in the shrinking pool of water beneath them. "Clean yourself up," he said as he turned to leave the showering area, "and don't think we're done talking about this, I will not let it go."

He began to close the curtain but then frowned and looked straight into Ryou's eyes. "Please don't think I'm being a jerk…" He then turned and left for the main section of the bathrooms.

After about ten minutes Ryou entered the area with the sinks where Yugi was waiting, leaning against the wall. The boys made eye contact for only a moment but said nothing. Ryou put the bloody towel he was holding nervously into the trash receptacle and shifted uneasily on his feet, as had become somewhat characteristic of the awkward teen.

Yugi looked at the wall across from him. "Why?"

Ryou didn't say anything.

The boy with spiked hair pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against and approached the other teen. He placed his hands on his friend's shoulders. "Please talk to me, Ryou."

The platinum blonde looked away from his friend's gaze.

"Why were you doing that?"

"Why are you so nosy?"

"I am your friend," Yugi said, sounding hurt, "I don't want you to hurt yourself…"

"I wasn't hurting myself," Ryou said, "it makes me feel better."

Yugi shook his head, "You were hurting yourself."

"You don't understand." Ryou said dismissively.

"I know I don't, that's why I'm trying to talk to you about this." Yugi said with a frown. "I hate it when you shut me out like this. This is the time when you should be opening up to someone, heck before this!"

After a couple of minutes the boy finally said something, "can we just get to class, we're late." Ryou dodged.

"No." Yugi said, "Let's go to the Park." He offered, knowing that the small wooded area on the opposite side of campus, where few people rarely were, was his friend's favorite place at DU.

The tall blonde frowned for a moment, but then nodded.

The pair walked silently to the Park and then took a seat under the only weeping willow on the entire campus and took a deep breath under its concealing shade. A moment passed before either said anything, both enjoying the peace and serenity of the moment.

"Talk to me, Ryou." Yugi said gently and full of concern for his friend.

"I told you," he started with a quiver in his voice, "it makes me feel better."

"Why…? Or how, I guess?"

"I don't know, it, it distracts me, I guess…"

"What do you need to be distracted from?"

The boy sighed and dropped his head, resting his chin against his chest. "Everything."

Yugi looked over at the teen to his side. "Why?"

"I," Ryou sighed, not sure how to say what he felt, "sometimes I just, I can't… Everything gets to me." He stumbled over his thoughts, trying to form them into words. "I bottle everything up and then it all just blows up inside me and I can't deal with anything anymore…"

"Is that what happened today?"

"It's been going on since like Tuesday…"

The both paused for a moment, and then Yugi spoke up. "Do you mean since Monday?" He frowned, recalling Ryou's confrontation with the mysterious individual that had beaten him.

Ryou looked down at his feet in front of him, saying nothing.

"I'm sorry." Yugi apologized for bringing the event up, even if it was only implied the implication was clearly received.

"Today was just the tip of the iceberg…" Ryou said, not acknowledging his friend's apology, "the depth of my insanity, at least this time around…"

"Does this happen often?

"Every few months, I guess." Ryou answered, after thinking for a moment.

The two fell silent once more and Yugi placed his hand tenderly on his friend's shoulder. "You can talk to me if you ever need to, you do know that right?"

The blonde teen seemed as if he started to recoil from the touch, but instead gave in. "I guess."

"Don't just guess," Yugi smiled at his friend, "I will always be here to listen when you need someone to talk."

"Sometimes I just hate being me… I hate having to be here…"

"At DU?" Yugi asked confusedly.

"On Earth, being alive." Ryou corrected.

"Oh." The shorter boy said, frowning. "Ryou, I like you being alive…"

"You're probably the only one."

"Why do you say that?" Yugi asked beginning to feel a deep sadness welling up inside him for his friend.

"No one cares about me, no one ever has… Not since my dad died…" Ryou said, tears audible in his voice, even though Yugi could not see his face.

"Ryou, I'm sure that's not true, the Fuyu's care for you, I can tell."

"They have a responsibility to take care of me but they don't love me."

Yugi saw tears falling from past Ryou's hair and onto the boy's clothing. "I think Mrs. Fuyu loves you like a son, from what I could tell when we all met…"

"Only to a degree… She has her limits and her real children will always come first."

Yugi frowned; he didn't realize the Fuyu's had children of their own. "Tristan, Joey, Duke, Téa and I care about you…"

"If I died tomorrow you would all get over it by this time next year."

The spikey haired teen was certainly taken aback by this statement; he blinked blankly and expressionless, unsure of what to say in response to that. "Ryou, you're the first real friend I've had in years and years, I wouldn't just simply get over you dying… Don't even say that." He finally responded in an offended and saddened tone.

Ryou inhaled uneasily, his breathing shaky and tearful. "I'm sorry." He let out in a meek sigh.

"It's okay." Yugi said turning to give the crying boy a hug.

After some time had passed the two had collected themselves and were now headed to calculus; albeit, almost an hour and a half late.

As the door to the seminar hall creaked open a few of their classmates turned their heads to see them coming into the class while the professor just shook his head and continued teaching. At least their professor wasn't a jerk about it… Their linguistics professor would have caused a scene.

The two quietly, or as quietly as they could manage, made it over to where Téa had saved them two seats roughly in the middle-left of the large room; where they usually all sat. As they took their seats, Téa turned and made an irritated face at the two of them.

"What do you two think you are doing leaving me here all by myself for almost the entire class?" She hissed into Yugi's ear. "So freaking embarrassing, I looked like a loner."

"Sorry Téa, we had some stuff we had to deal with." The boy whispered the flimsy excuse.

The girl scoffed and returned to taking notes, "Fine, just don't let it happen again without letting me know. I would rather help you two than sit here…"

Yugi smiled, "Alright."

As class neared its end everyone was clearly ready to be done for the week and a majority of the students had already begun or had finished packing up their things the professor was actually putting on his jacket while writing on the board – unsuccessfully I should add.

"And that is…" the professor started, "I don't even remember what we were doing, class dismissed."

There were a few laughs toward the back of the class as the general air of the room had shifted from brutal and boring torture to relief and freedom. The class got up from their seats nearly in unison and made for the exits as if they hadn't seen the light of day in months. Ryou was following Yugi out of the class as Téa said she needed to speak with the professor for a moment regarding a quiz she had missed while searching for her cat.

The two were making their way toward the exit when the taller, older version of Yugi stopped them. He smiled as he gestured for them to move out of everyone's way so he could have a word with them.

"I saw you two came in late today," he said with his low, strong voice, moderate concern present in his tone as he brushed some hair out of his face, "what was that all about? Almost two hours late for class…"

Ryou began to turn red, nervous of what Yugi might say.

"Oh, we were just dealing with some stuff we had forgotten about." Yugi lied. "We really need to start writing stuff down, Ryou." He said, turning to his friend who had started tugging at Yugi's blue jacket's sleeve.

"Heh, yeah." He said.

"Well, if you two need to borrow my notes, you can." The oldest of the three said.

"Thanks!" Yugi said with a smile, "But our friend Téa will let us borrow hers."

Ryou rolled his eyes, thinking, _'What a fool…'_

Just then, Téa must have noticed Ryou's rolling eyes because, she brushed by them saying, "No I will not," shooting a subtle wink to the tall blonde in the process.

_'Bless her.'_ Ryou thought to himself as he smiled back at the girl.

"I'll see you for lunch, Ryou." She said, feigning annoyance with Yugi and left the room.

Ryou waved.

"Okay… So, I guess she won't." Yugi said, sounding genuinely confused by the exchange.

"What did you do to her?" The tallest of the three asked as he watched the door closing behind her. "She seems pretty mad at you."

"I don't know… She was mad about us being late, but I thought she was over it?"

"Well, you two can borrow my notes if you want."

Yugi laughed, "Okay, we'll probably have to take you up on that offer!"

"Alright, I'll be at the library's archives until five today." He said, "I work there, so if you can't get your friend to let you borrow hers, you can come find me."

The youngest of the three smiled up at the oldest, "Alright then, thanks! We better get something to eat before Ryou passes out."

Yugi's comment made Ryou turn even a deeper shade of red. He knew his friend was only trying to either bring him into the conversation or create an excuse to leave, but it was still awkward for him.

As the three of them began to part ways after exiting the room, Yugi shouted over to the man, "Wait, what's your name? Who do I ask for?"

The older, taller Yugi-lookalike laughed, "If I'm not at the desk, ask for Yami."

"Okay! I'm Yugi, by the way!" Yugi hollered with a smile and a thumbs-up.

Ryou was thoroughly embarrassed now and just kept walking away from where his inhibition-free friend stood shouting down the hall.

The shorter of the two friends was now running up toward Ryou. "Well that was really nice of him." He said with a smile as he finally got beside his friend.

"You're so embarrassing."

"I'm embarrassing?!" Yugi questioned the accusation, "You were the one just standing there not saying anything!" He laughed, "His offer was to both of us, you know."

"Yugi, he flirting with you and you were just going along with it." Ryou said still a bit red in the cheeks.

"What?!"

"Yeah…"

"You're crazy, Ryou." Yugi said sticking his tongue out at the taller teen.

"Maybe I'm wrong, but I swear that's what it seemed like he was doing… He doesn't even know us, why would he be offering to give us his notes… It's weird."

"Maybe he's just friendly?" Yugi said, the sound of annoyance growing in his voice.

"Yugi… There are kids that have only showed up to this class once or twice, have you ever seen him seeking those people out to lend them his notes? I haven't." Ryou said pointedly. "Anyway, are you going to go see him at the archives?"

The teen thought for a moment, contemplating all that Ryou had said and all that had just happened. "Well, I mean, if Téa won't give us her notes we'll have to?"

Ryou rolled his eyes again, "What aren't you getting about this? He doesn't want _me_ to go see him, he doesn't want _us_ to go see him, he wants _you_ to go see him."

"His offer was directed to both of us…"

"And yet he only spoke to you."

"Probably because you were awkwardly standing behind me yanking at my jacket the whole time…" Yugi said under his breath.

The platinum blonde shrugged, "Fine, be that way."

Yugi frowned, "Why do you think he was flirting with me?"

"He blinked."

"What?" Yugi asked, completely thrown off by the answer.

"When you denied him, saying Téa would give us her notes, he got a disappointed look on his face and it all started with a blink." Ryou explained, "It was really obvious… I can't believe you didn't see it."

"Uhm, okay, anything else?"

"Everything about the situation, he pulled you aside after class showing concern for your tardiness and offered to meet you later, _alone_; regardless of whether or not you think he meant alone, it was implied."

"Uh…"

"The way he spoke to you, the way he held himself in your presence." Ryou continued, "He spoke with a kinder voice than he does to other people in the class; yes it was still strong and commanding but have you heard how he addresses the other kids in that class? It's usually with disdain."

Yugi blinked with wide eyes at how creepily observant his friend seemed to be.

A few minutes of silence passed as Ryou allowed Yugi time to process everything. As the two of them approached the courtyard of the student union, where they were going to meet Téa and the other guys for lunch, Ryou posed a question to the boy walking beside him.

"Do you like him?"

"What?" Yugi asked, "I don't know, I guess? He seems like a nice guy…?"

"I mean do you find him attractive or do you like-like him?" Ryou redefined his question.

"What?!" Yugi said, surprised by the question – though he wasn't completely surprised.

"I'm just wondering," Ryou said sounding a little defensive, "no judgment either way."

"I don't."

"He looks just like you though?"

"So what?!"

"Are you saying you don't find yourself appealing?"

"What are you even talking about, Ryou?" Yugi said with agitation clearly present in his voice.

"You can think someone is attractive without wanting to bump nasties with them, you know."

"Ryou, why are we talking about this? I can't even believe you just said that… You're so awkward sometimes."

"Sorry…" Ryou said sounding genuinely hurt by what Yugi had said.

A few moments passed before Yugi responded, "No, I'm sorry, Ryou. I shouldn't have just said that, I'm just overwhelmed by all this."

"I'm sorry; I shouldn't have brought it up."

"Well, I'd rather know than just go in blindly, I guess?"

"I might be completely mistaken, don't make a fool of yourself if you think he likes you but doesn't… He might beat you up." Ryou said with a nervousness in his voice as if…

Yugi thought, _'As if from experience…?'_ The boy frowned inwardly.

"Do you find him attractive?" Yugi asked.

"I don't know." Ryou said sharply, as if he was expecting the question.

"Okay," Yugi said, "well we should hurry to the student union for lunch, the others are probably starving."

Ryou only nodded and the two made their way to the courtyard at a quickened pace.

* * *

_Notes: Oh. My. Goodness. Just, oh my goodness! Poor baby Ryou :( and poor confused Yugi! Oye vey, these two…_

_-Who has the sexual tension in this story? I can't even know. Leave me your thoughts in a review! Suggestions for pairs are ALWAYS welcome!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Summary of Chapter Four: It's Friday, Ryou has been in a gloomy place mentally and emotionally since being beaten up on Monday (Chapter Three) and today Yugi found out that he cuts himself when he is at his darkest… After talking it over for a bit, though not really solving much – at least I feel that way – they went to calculus late. After class we discovered that the Yugi-lookalike's name is Yami (big surprise, right…?) and he offered to let Ryou and Yugi borrow his notes for the day since they were so late. He informed them that he would be at the Library's Archives until five o'clock that evening. Then, on their way to lunch, Ryou informed Yugi that he had hypothesized that this Yami character was flirting with Yugi :O Yugi wasn't entirely pleased with the idea and they ended up having a bit of a fight over it but seem to have made up rather quickly. That is where we left everyone – headed off to the student union's courtyard for lunch with the gang, Tristan, Joey, Duke and Téa. _

* * *

**Chapter Five**

"Hey you two!" Téa called from their groups usual hangout spot within the Student Union's courtyard, seeming to be the first of the gang to notice Yugi and Ryou approaching.

The two youngest of the group waved as they neared.

"Hey you guys." Ryou said shyly, despite having known most of them for the last two years…

"What's up?" Joey asked with a mouth full of burger.

"Yugi has a secret admirer." Téa said bluntly, taking a sip of her iced tea.

The spikey haired teen flushed, "I, what?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That kid in calculus, he's totally into you." She responded innocently.

"Not you too…" Yugi exhaled in annoyance.

"Hm?" She asked quizzically.

"I told him the same thing," Ryou said, "well, not the _exact_ same thing, but basically."

"That's because you're smart!" She beamed at the blonde teen.

Tristan burped, "Whoa, whoa, hold up." He commanded, "Who has a crush on Yugi?"

"Some guy that looks creepily like him." Téa informed the group with a toothy smile.

Yugi flushed a deeper shade of red.

"Not that you are creepy." She corrected the boy's misinterpretation.

"His name is Yami." Ryou added. "He told us."

"Hey guys, what's up?" Duke asked as he approached the table.

"We're discussing the guy crushing on Yugi." Ryou said bluntly and then flung both his hands to cover his mouth as he saw that Duke had brought the Ryou-lookalike with him. The pale teen turned bright red in embarrassment for exposing such sensitive information to someone not within their immediate group of friends. "Oh gosh, I didn't, I mean, Yugi… I'm sorry." He frowned.

The group laughed as Yugi and Ryou simply blinked at them all confused.

"Don't worry about Tozoku," Tristan said, "he's cool."

Ryou narrowed his eyes at the group, not understanding how they could take the situation so lightly. "So?" He asked, clearly not caring or even realizing that he may insult their semi-friend. "It's Yugi's business and we, or at least _I_, don't know this kid and shouldn't have said anything." He scolded himself through his chastisement of the group at large.

"Ryou," Tozoku said sternly in a somewhat growling manner, though that was how he normally spoke, "I don't care if Yugi likes a boy, I'm gay."

The platinum blonde turned a shade of red Yugi didn't even think existed.

"I, uh, uhm- But I…" He fumbled over his words. "I'm sorry." He looked down at his shoes, allowing his long hair to fall past his face like a curtain.

"It's fine, don't apologize."

"I tried to tell ya." Tristan said, taking another bite of his burger.

"Anyway, who do you like, Yugi?" Duke asked, ignoring the others around him.

"I, uh, I don't _like _him like that, we just talked today." The boy said, "Besides, I'm not gay."

"You should have started the conversation with that." Duke laughed.

"Heh, I guess." Yugi smiled weakly.

Ryou, still a bright shade of and unwilling to look at anyone in the group, began playing with a long strand of his hair in front of his face.

"So how was math?" Joey asked the three that shared a calculus class – though he probably didn't actually care and was probably just trying to change the subject.

"Oh speaking of which," Yugi started, turning to Téa, "why won't you let me borrow your notes?"

"Because I want you to go talk to, what was his name again?" She questioned, "I mean, I didn't take notes." She winked at Ryou, who still wasn't paying attention to the group.

Yugi blushed, "Téa, you can't do that after already telling me the reason, besides, Ryou isn't even aware of what's going on." He laughed as he waved a hand in front of his friend's face.

The teen had completely zoned out, absorbed solely in his hair-twirling routine.

"Is he okay?" Tozoku wondered.

"Probably." Yugi said before realizing the teen's actual concern, "I mean, he's embarrassed so he's trying not to be noticed – it's clearly not working, however." He smiled at the older version of Ryou, trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh…" The other said.

"Should we draw on his face?" Joey joked.

"No." Tozoku said bluntly.

"Not cool, man." Tristan scolded.

"Hey! I was only kiddin'!"

As this commotion started, Yugi nudged Ryou lightly. "Pst, hey," he whispered, "come back to us, we miss you."

"Huh?" Ryou whispered back looking up slightly from behind his wall of hair around his dropped head.

"You totally zoned out, Tozoku seemed worried." Yugi explained able to make out what seemed to be his friend growing redder.

"Yugi, I want to go." He said meekly.

"What, why?"

"I just want to leave; I want you to come with me… Let's go to the library or the Park or back to the dorm." He suggested.

"Ryou, what's going on?" Yugi asked.

"Hello? Earth to Yugi and Ryou!" Tristan shouted, leaning across the picnic table to knock on the two teen's heads.

"What?" Yugi jumped, looking up; startled by the sudden attention.

"Are you two going to get food or just make goo-goo eyes at each other?" Joey asked with a mouth full of fries this time.

Ryou let his head drop even further down and Yugi's eyes winded and his cheeks reddened.

Tristan slapped Joey on the back of the head, "Will you grow up?" He demanded, though clearly restraining a laugh.

"Oh come on! You were all thinking it!" Joey exclaimed for the group, jumping from his seat at the picnic table.

Tristan got up after Joey saying, "Why I oughtta!"

Téa merely shook her head and continued to nibble at her salad.

As Tristan and Joey got up to fight or laugh about the situation, whichever of the two, Tozoku and Duke took their places at the picnic table – Tozoku sitting directly across from Ryou and Duke across from Yugi.

After taking a seat, Tozoku removed his sunglasses to reveal a rather noticeable black eye. The bruise had found its way around his eye socket and even a little around his nose, he could very well have had a broken nose; though Yugi did his best not to stare.

"But seriously, you're not going to let me borrow your notes?" Yugi directed to Téa.

"I mean, I will if you really want me to, but Yami's are probably better – he really seems to know a lot about calculus." She confessed.

"Why don't you get hers and his and compare?" Duke offered, though as more of a joke. The girl clearly didn't catch the jest.

"That would be a great idea!" She said.

Duke only could roll his eyes as he proceeded to eat from one of the five plates of food Joey had decided he needed for lunch today. He picked up the piece of pizza that looked like it had been untouched, for the most part.

"Are you feeling any better from Monday?" Tozoku asked pointedly, staring at Ryou through the boy's curtain of hair.

Yugi's eyes widened in shock. Was this who had beaten Ryou up?! Is this why Ryou was so freaked every time Tozoku was around?! Is this why he wanted to leave so badly?! "How do you know about Monday?" He snapped at the boy, instinctively moving a little closer to Ryou.

"What happened Monday?" Duke asked, "What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing." Yugi said with a bit of venom riding his words.

Duke put his hands up defensively, "Sorry." Getting up he grabbed Téa's arm and pulled her away from the table, "Come on, I think they want to talk."

Yugi eyed Tozoku warily, though glancing toward Duke and the others out of his peripherals to make sure they wouldn't get too far away if they needed them.

"I'll ask again," Yugi said sternly, "how do you know about Monday?"

"You think I beat the shit out of him, don't you?" He growled.

"Well no offense, but you generally seem rather menacing and Ryou doesn't appear to like you all that much." The spikey haired teen said, moving in closer to Ryou once more.

"If you honestly think I hurt him, you're an idiot. Did he even tell you what happened?" The older teen scoffed.

"Well, no…" Yugi answered after allowing a moment of silence, trying to think of any possible way he could phrase the answer better.

"Some friends you two are. Whatever." He said getting up from the picnic table and leaving.

Yugi wanted very much to call after him, _'Wait, what happened?'_ But he didn't feel comfortable talking about Ryou as if he wasn't there, even if he wasn't _mentally_ present.

Just then Ryou lurched up from the picnic table and quickly ran off in the opposite direction of the retreating Tozoku, their loitering group of friends and the confused Yugi.

"Ryou!" Yugi called after his friend, "Ryou, wait!" He got up and began to jog after his friend, but it was too late, the boy was already lost in a crowd of people going to who knew where…

"What the heck happened?!" Tristan said rushing back to the picnic table with Joey's neck between the crook of his elbow.

"Gah! Let me go ya loser!" Joey shouted.

Ignoring Joey's pleads, Yugi answered, "I… I'm not sure." He frowned, his lip quivering as if he were about to cry, as Duke and Téa returned to the semi-reforming group.

"Uh, don't worry about it man, I'm sure they'll be fine," Tristan attempted to console his shortest friend, "probably just need to blow off some steam, ya know?"

"I guess." Yugi said putting his head down in a pouty manner.

Téa appeared as if she were about to say something, but Duke raised his hand and placed it over her mouth, not wanting her to say something to hurt Yugi's feelings more or make the situation more awkward. She made a face, but didn't retaliate.

"I'm gonna go…" Yugi said picking up his things

"Where to?" Duke inquired.

"I don't know, just for a walk… I guess…"

"Alright. Do you want to meet up later?" He asked sounding concerned.

"I don't know."

"Okay." Duke frowned slighlty.

"You have our numbers." Tristan added.

Yugi nodded but didn't answer with words as he solemnly left the courtyard. He wasn't sure where he was going, he just needed to figure this all out… Maybe he could find Ryou, even?

* * *

After searching all the usual places he and Ryou usually wasted their free time at, nearly three hours had passed. It was almost four in the afternoon and Yugi had no idea what he was doing, was he looking for Ryou, was he trying to postulate reasons for Ryou and Tozoku's tension, or was he simply wandering the campus of DU aimlessly? He honestly wasn't sure – it was a bit of a mixture of all three.

Before he knew what was actually happening, Yugi realized he was in the University's Library, no he was walking up the stairs to the sixth floor; the floor that housed the archives.

He inwardly shrugged, thinking _'Whatever,'_ as he reached the top of the stairwell and pushed the door open into the archives.

No one was in the main entrance where the front desk was, it didn't look like anyone besides the employees had been there in, well, forever.

"Hello?" He called out quietly, as he seemed to always do when in a library out of force of habit. "Hello?" He tried once more when there was no answer, though this time he was a bit louder.

Taking a few more steps into the room he approached the front desk and peered over the top of the high counter on his tip-toes.

"Hello." A low voice called out from Yugi's left.

The boy jumped and nearly fell over.

"Oh, sorry," Yami said frowning, "I didn't mean to startle you."

Yugi laughed nervously, "I didn't think you did."

"Yeah." The older of the two said with a slight chuckle. "I was starting to think I wasn't going to see you."

"Yeah… Sorry for being so late, some crazy things happened…" Yugi said, looking down at his feet.

"Like what?" Yami questioned.

A moment passed and Yugi sighed, "I don't really want to talk about it, sorry."

"No, no, it's fine." Yami said shooting a reassuring smile at the short boy a few meters away from him. "So you want to borrow my notes?" He asked moving to behind the desk to grab his notes from his messenger bag.

"Hm? Oh yes, thank you." Yugi answered.

After rummaging through his bag for a moment the twenty year old held out his notebook in his hands for the boy to take, "Here you go."

Yugi blinked at the notebook, as if trying to remember what it was for.

"Yugi?" Yami asked, "You seem… distracted?"

"No, I'm fine." Yugi said taking the notebook in his hands, feeling redness rushing into his cheeks.

Yami cocked an eyebrow at the boy on the opposite side of the desk. "Uh huh." He nodded.

"What?"

"Nothing, I don't really know you too well, so who am I to say that you seem out of sorts."

"Heh, yeah, I guess."

Yami frowned at this point, "You are acting a lot different from when we talked at the end of class… Is something wrong? Did I say something?"

"No, it's not you. It's my friend…"

"Ryou? Is that his name?"

"Yeah, but I really don't feel comfortable talking about it."

"Fair enough, do you want to talk about something else?"

"Don't you have to work?"

Yami held his arms up in a semicircle presenting the room, "Yes, I have a line out the door. Get out of here; you're wasting everyone's time." He remarked with a smirk.

"Ha, ha, very funny." Yugi replied, sticking his tongue out childishly.

"That's the 'you' I thought was your regular 'you'!" Yami said with a laugh.

"What do you mean?"

"You seemed like a little kid." He said, continuing to laugh, "And I don't mean that as a bad thing."

"I don't take it to be a bad thing." He smiled.

"Good. Now do you want to keep me company or should I pretend to be really busy…?"

Yugi looked around the room and then glanced at the clock. "I don't know, I feel like, there is something I feel like I need to do… I feel like if I don't I'll be sick."

"What is it?"

"I-" Yugi started before Yami interrupted.

"-don't want to talk about it, got it." He half smiled.

"I'm sorry, I'm usually pretty forthcoming, but this isn't about me and I don't want to talk about other people…"

"That's good; everyone else does so it's nice that I know at least one person that doesn't."

Yugi felt his cheeks burning.

"What? Did I embarrass you?"

"Huh?" Yugi's eyes grew wide.

"You're blushing…"

"I always blush, my cheeks are naturally rosy."

"No they're not, it comes and goes." He said plainly as if not realizing how odd that sounded coming from someone Yugi had just met earlier that day. "You're still red." He informed.

"Probably because you're making me the center of attention." Yugi said with a furrowed brow.

"We're the only two people here… Would you rather I was the center of attention? Besides, I think it's pretty even here; it is a dialogue between us, after all."

"No, we're talking about me, that makes me the center of attention." Yugi informed.

Yami shrugged, "We could talk about me?"

Yugi felt his cheeks getting hot again.

"Or not?" Yami said with a chuckle. "What do you and Ryou talk about together? Let me guess, you don't want to talk about it?"

Yugi laughed genuinely this time, "We talk about all sorts of things, school, our lives, and people."

"I thought you said you didn't talk about people?"

"Well I don't, but Ryou enjoys gossip though he would never let anyone know, he's a bit of a scold." Yugi said with a smile, "Oh my god, I can't believe I just said that." He slapped a hand against his forehead.

"See, everyone talks about other people."

"I guess… Are you upset with me…?"

"Upset with you? Why would I be upset with you?"

"I, uh, because I talk about people?"

Yami let out a laugh, "No Yugi, I'm not upset with you."

Yugi laughed in return.

Just then Yami gestured to the boy to follow him, "Come on, we'll go in back so you can sit somewhere. That is, if you are planning on staying?" He phrased his question as more of a statement; his commanding voice sent a shiver through Yugi.

The spikey haired teen glanced at the time on his phone, "I suppose, but I need to make a phone call quickly."

"Alright, I'll go in back and clear some space up, so you can have some privacy up here."

"Okay, thanks."

* * *

_"Hey this is Ryou, I can't talk right now, please leave a message and I'll call you back."_

"Shit." Yugi muttered, "Straight to voice mail, real classy, Ryou…"

Then the robotic woman on the phone proceeded to allow Yugi to leave his message.

"Ryou, I've been looking all over campus for you," He started, "please call me back, I'm so worried you don't understand, I need to talk to you about what happened, about everything… I'm freaking out Ryou and you not answering isn't helping at all… God I hope you're alright…" He frowned, "Please call me back, please, please, please call me back, Ryou."

Yugi hung up from the voice mail and stared at his phone for a few moments, as if waiting for the boy to call him back immediately.

"Is Ryou in trouble?" Yami asked, snapping Yugi back into reality.

"You were listening to me?" He snapped sounding offended.

"I didn't mean to, I only heard that last bit of what you said, when I was coming back in." He said sounding upset that he had upset Yugi.

Yugi shook his head slightly to himself, "I don't know if he's in trouble, that's why I'm trying to find him…"

"He's probably just off with some other friends."

"You don't understand." Yugi said turning away, rolling his eyes.

"I'm sorry…?"

"Ryou is really shy, we're like best friends and without me I don't think he would have many or any other friends… I don't say it to be mean, because the same is true for me; we make each other at least a little more outgoing. He is my best friend." Yugi said, sounding very upset over the conversation.

Just then the spikey haired teen felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Do you want me to help you look for him?" Yami asked quietly, leaning forward slightly so he was closer to Yugi's ear.

Yugi shrugged his hand off, "I don't like being touched…" _'By strangers.'_ He thought the last bit.

Yami stood up straight and frowned, "I'm sorry, I'm only trying to help." He said defensively.

"I know, but I don't even know you and there's just a lot of stuff going on and I don't know how to deal with any of it." He snapped.

"Well."

"Don't get like that." Yugi ordered weakly.

"Like what? You seem to be the one getting like something."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Whatever you meant yours to mean." Yami said returning to sit behind the desk. "I actually do have work to do…"

Yugi scoffed, "Not three minutes ago you were trying to get me to stay here and keep you company in your boredom."

Yami didn't respond, he simply went back to doing whatever work he had previously been doing – or pretended to at least.

"Whatever." Yugi said as he stormed out of the archives, walking back in shortly after and tossing Yami's notebook onto the front desk's counter, "I'll just do without, thanks, but no thanks."

On his way quickly moving down the stairs, tears welling in his eyes, he swore he saw Ryou going up the stairs, but as he glanced back, his vision still blurry from tears, he wiped his eyes and realized it was actually Tozoku. Yugi scowled inwardly and continued running down the stairwell, rather noisily. He was getting as far away from that prick as he could. He was going to find Ryou and he was going to find out what the fuck was going on with everyone at this god damn school.

Yugi was a man on a mission.

* * *

_Notes: I realize that Yugi and, well everyone… is rather OOC. That wasn't my original intention, but that's how it's worked out. If you want me to try and make them all a bit more IC, you'll have to let me know (and probably give me ideas on how to do that…). _

_-Any who, take all this how you want to because lord knows I can't interpret it for you as I have no rhyme or reason to what I write when I write it. _

_-And lastly, I am of the generation that demands immediate gratification, so if you like it, review it 3 hehe_


	6. Chapter 6

_Summary of Chapter Five: Yugi seems to think that Tozoku (Yami Bakura) is responsible for Ryou's beating – or he at least knows about it. Ryou went missing :O Well, not missing but he ran off and isn't anywhere Yugi can find him and won't even answer his phone :( Yugi ended up going to the Archives to get Yami's calculus notes, but after a serious of misunderstandings and tumultuous attitudes, he did not take the notes and probably ruined chances for a friendship (or otherwise) with Yami for a while. Oh, and we also learned that Tozoku is gay._

_EDIT: I edited this (literally the last line...) and said how and why at the very bottom of the end notes._

* * *

**Chapter Six**

"Yugi?" Tozoku's voice called from a short ways up the stairs as the boy in question ran quickly past. "Yugi! What's wrong?"

"Leave me alone!" The teen commanded as he continued to race down the stairwell of the Domino University main campus library.

Tozoku now in pursuit called after him, "Yugi, wait, what is going on?"

"I said leave me alone!" His teary voice croaked out in a series of echoes through the acoustics of the stairwell. Yugi felt a tight grip around his bicep, he twisted around and saw Tozoku's face gazing down at him; consumed by what was an unsettling combination of concern and amusement.

"What is wrong with you?" He sneered.

"You." Yugi answered, yanking his arm away from his would-be captor and continued back down the stairs.

"Yugi stop!" The man snapped, "You're being ridiculous."

Scowling, Yugi looked back up the flight of stairs at him. "Why do you even care, just leave me alone, I am busy."

"You're looking for Ryou, I know."

The spikey haired teen's facial features shifted from annoyance and a degree of fear to that of confusion and concern. "H-how?"

"Oh please," He smirked, "don't act surprised that I find you and your little friends so predictable."

Yugi blinked; yes, it was true that looking for Ryou would be something he would do… But that's because it was the _right_ thing to do.

"Plus, I found this." Tozoku continued reaching into his pocket to pull out a Ryou's cell phone. Holding it up in the boy's line of sight, he wiggled it like it was a pendulum.

"How did you get that?!" Yugi snapped, accusation riding his words.

"I didn't take it, since that's what you're thinking." He growled and then allowed his features to soften into a smirk, "Well, I did, but I didn't steal it. Anyway, it's a long story and you'll only misinterpret it."

"Oh, I don't doubt that – but you're going to tell me anyway." Yugi ordered, tapping his foot.

The man at the top of the stairs sighed, folding his arms. "Fine, but remember, I'm telling you I had no ulterior motives…"

"I'm not promising anything before I hear this 'long story'."

"After I was leaving I turned around and saw that Ryou was running off," Tozoku started, "I didn't want him getting into any trouble so I wrapped around the courtyard to try and follow him – and before you start accusing me of more transgressions against him, no I'm not a stalker, no I didn't want to beat him up – while I am guilty of quite a few illegal acts, none have ever been directed at Ryou…" He trailed off.

"Mmhmm." Yugi sounded in an attempt to get the man back on track with his story.

"I caught up with him and tried to talk to him but he fell – no I didn't push him – and dropped his phone. I helped him up but while I was picking up his phone to return to him he started running off, I tried to holler after him but he just kept going…"

"Yeah…" Yugi said in disbelief.

"Like I said, you're only misinterpreting it." He shook his head in annoyance.

"Not only that, but I don't believe you as far as I can throw you."

"Whatever." Tozoku scowled. "I'm telling you the truth now and I was at lunch, I did _not_ hurt Ryou… _Ever_."

"Whatever, do you know where he is or are you just trying to psych me out?" He demanded.

Tozoku frowned for a millisecond before reverting it back to a scowl, hoping Yugi hadn't noticed. After a moment of silence, "I don't know where he is," he admitted, "but I'm looking for him…"

"Why?" Yugi snapped, concern for his friend growing, _'So you can beat him again?'_ He thought to himself.

"Look, don't get your panties in a twist, kid." He growled, "I'm not about to tell you things that he hasn't told you himself, so you're either going to have to trust that I am actually looking for him for some noble cause or whatever bullshit will convince you or we can go back to looking separately." He spat the ultimatum out as if he didn't want either option to be chosen by the teen twelve steps down from him.

"I, uh-" Yugi started before flinching at the sight of Tozoku coming down the stairs toward him.

Brushing past the boy at the bottom of this flight of stairs, the taller Ryou-lookalike hissed out, "Whatever."

"Wait," The spikey haired teen said meekly, "I don't trust you…" He admitted, "But I can't search this entire campus by myself… I'm really getting worried."

"Fine." Without turning to face the voice, Tozoku snapped. Though slightly less hostile than before, as he nodded after the boy, signifying for Yugi to follow him.

The doors to the library flung open as Tozoku stalked out of the building and back onto the main campus, Yugi struggling to trail after him.

"Where have you already looked?" Yugi wondered as he was finally able to catch up to him.

"MH, KC, PP, the Library, the memorial fountain, a couple of the cafes on campus, the student union and the Park." He answered monotonously.

"The Park?" Yugi furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Yeah, it's this-"

"I know what it is," Yugi interrupted, "I didn't think you knew what it was…" He mumbled.

"Hm."

A moment passed before either of them spoke.

"Sorry I interrupted. I was just… surprised." Yugi apologized.

"Whatever." Tozoku responded blankly, "Where have you looked."

"Um, well I didn't actually check any buildings other than the Library and our dorm… I mainly tried to look for him outside." Yugi responded rubbing the back of his neck, "He doesn't really like crowds." He added.

"Still?" Tozoku wondered aloud.

"What?"

"Nothing." He growled.

"Fine, we'll just continue to search in animosity and relative obscurity."

"Look kid, I know you don't like me, I don't care – most people don't." He snapped, not looking at the boy he was addressing. "I'm looking for your friend, so just shut the hell up."

"You're a lot different from when we met around my other friends…" Yugi mumbled to himself and instantly regretting it once he realized Tozoku had heard him.

"Yeah, probably has something to do with you assuming I beat the living fuck out of your friend."

"Sorry about that…" Yugi answered after taking a moment to overcome his shock and process what he could say.

"Whatever."

A while passed between the two, as they searched in silence; about ten minutes.

"But seriously, what was I supposed to think?" Yugi snapped after brooding over their last few comments to one another.

"What?" He scoffed in response; clearly he was not lingering on their previous discussion as the shorter of the two was.

"Ryou is terrified of you and you have a black eye, you're – I don't know – you're dark and menacing looking, and you somehow knew about Monday! What was I supposed to think?"

"I already told you, I'm not telling you what he hasn't told you for himself. It's not my place." Tozoku growled.

Yugi simply glowered at the taller man who refused to make eye contact with him, simply walking straight ahead.

They continued to search the campus of Domino University in silence; unwilling to agitate the other further. Slipping in and out of buildings and peeking into first floor windows. Tozoku was eerily adept at sneaking in and out of locked rooms and buildings without being noticed – Yugi was a bit put off by that fact. He moved like a shadow while the spikey haired teen seemed to only draw unwanted attention to himself; though, his general air of goody-two-shoes sated any suspicions the witnesses may have had.

After nearly forty minutes of silence, Tozoku broke the veil between to the two.

"Does he eat regularly?"

"What? Who?" Yugi said as the question brought him out of a distant and deep thought process.

"Never mind."

"Are you talking about Ryou?" The spikey haired boy pressed.

"I said never mind." He growled.

"You're the one who asked the question, I was content with the silence." Yugi scoffed, still wary of the taller man.

"Yeah and then I said never mind." He snapped. "So drop it."

Yugi sighed, rolling his eyes, "Yes, he eats regularly. Not much all at once, but he eats regularly."

"I said drop it." Tozoku said attempting to sound annoyed, though relief was present in his tone.

"Whatever." Yugi said with half a smile, picking up on the slight change in attitude.

As the pair exited the dining hall after scanning the large throng of college students attending it for the last meal of the day, Yugi couldn't help himself from asking, "Will you clear up the fog on how you know him?"

"I will not." Tozoku smirked at the confusion evident in the boys tone and face. "I already told you I'm not going to disclose anything."

"But-"

"No buts, you're starting to annoy me with all the prodding."

"You mean you're not already annoyed?" Yugi laughed.

"Hmph." Tozoku let out his response with a portion of annoyance and a portion of lightheartedness.

"What if we can't find him…?" Yugi frowned as he realized the sun was starting to set off in the distance, a cool autumn breeze blew through campus. The mood between the two quickly shifted from somewhat friendly to serious and distraught.

"We'll find him."

"It's getting dark, though… What if we can't find him before nightfall?"

"Then we'll keep looking." Tozoku said before shaking his head slightly, "Or I'll keep looking."

Yugi shook his head in return, "I won't stop looking for him." He said firmly.

"Fine." The Ryou-lookalike said feigning indifference, though Yugi could sense otherwise.

"Should we check the Park again?" Yugi suggested, "I think it's pretty much his favorite place on campus."

"We've looked there three times; I doubt he's there now, especially with night coming…" He said the last part a bit absentmindedly, as if his mind was drifting somewhere else.

"So? It's not like he's afraid of the dark or something." Yugi said trying to get a reaction or response from the older man.

"Heh." Tozoku smirked as they continued walking.

Not exactly what the spikey haired teen was hoping for but it was sort of something, _sort of_.

"I doubt he's there, you said it yourself, it's his favorite place on campus." Tozoku continued.

"So?"

"So why would he go there if he knows you know that is his favorite place if he's trying to stay away from people? He's not an idiot, Yugi."

"I didn't say he was… Besides, he's not hiding from me." The boy snapped defensively.

"Oh yeah, he's hiding from me because I apparently beat him."

"That's not what I meant at all."

"I'm just kidding." He sneered back at the short teen; though, behind his smooth unphased features, Tozoku was somewhat worried that that was in fact what the boy had meant in his snide comment. _'I hope Ryou tells this little prig the truth.'_ He thought to himself.

Yugi returned the jeering smirk with a weak smile. After a few moments of walking across campus he spoke up, "I feel like we've looked everywhere… I have no idea where he could be and he won't answer his cell phone." He frowned, the notion of defeat finally starting to creep its way into his mind.

"Well duh," Tozoku retorted, "he doesn't what to be found, he wants time to himself – to process things, I assume."

Yugi blinked blankly, he couldn't believe he didn't see that before. "Well what if we find him and he's mad at us?"

"He won't be."

"How do you know?" Yugi challenged, "You said it yourself, he must want to be alone and then we're going to go bursting into his private time for thinking or whatever…"

"He won't be mad, trust me." He responded lowly.

Despite how much Yugi wanted to believe this somewhat unknown individual, that his best friend would welcome their intrusion, he couldn't help but feel that once the three of them came face to face things may not go so smoothly.

As they continued to walk, silence once more took hold of their company with one another. The only sounds were coming from a few birds relentlessly chirping against the fall of night and the loud music coming from the frat parties across campus. The moderate warmth of the day had retreated and the chill of autumn flooded the campus' evening darkness. Yugi began to shiver, evoking an unwelcome laugh from Tozoku.

"Is little Yugi cold?" His voice boomed ferociously across the now abandoned Domino University campus.

Yugi jumped at the laughter which caused the taller man to laugh louder.

"You need to pull yourself together, kid." He instructed, punching his companion on the shoulder lightly.

"Yeah… I'll get right on that…" Yugi narrowed his gaze on Tozoku while rubbing his shoulder.

His laughter subsided and his face resumed its usual grimace, "But seriously, are you actually cold? It's not even that bad."

"Whether or not I'm cold doesn't concern you…" Yugi muttered, annoyed by the familiar and all-knowing attitude Tozoku was taking with him all of a sudden.

Narrowing his eyes on the young teen before him, the Ryou-lookalike scoffed and returned his gaze ahead of them. "You're a right prick, you know that?" He said plainly.

"What does that make you?" Yugi challenged.

Tozoku simply shook his head, "See? You're completely missing the point."

"What point?" Yugi demanded.

"You started this whole thing, assuming that I was responsible for Ryou being beaten up has put you into a foul mood regarding me. Yeah, I have an attitude and don't like people but it's because of shit like this that I don't. You have no real reason to be a complete asshole to me." He continued walking, not bothering to stop as Yugi halted moments ago.

Yugi froze where he was standing. _'Because of shit like this… Because of people like me, more like it…'_ He thought to himself and frowned. "I'm sorry, Tozoku…"

"No you're not." He said, "You're sorry that I've made you feel in the wrong, you're not sorry that you actually are there."

"Don't tell me what I'm sorry for you wanna-be-omnipotent-bastard." Yugi snapped, causing the man to stop where he was, his back facing the teen. "I'm sorry that I passed judgment on you so quickly… While I'm still not sure if I like or even trust you, I'm sorry that I've let my presumptions against you be so… so obvious." He mumbled.

"Hm." The taller of the two sounded as he resumed walking.

Yugi remained where he stood. "Maybe we should split up now…" He suggested, annoyance quickly replacing apologetic as his primary feeling at the moment.

"Whatever you wanna do." Tozoku's voice sounded as he continued to move away from the spikey haired teen.

"Fine." Yugi said pointedly, "I'll just see you whenever then."

The departing man flicked his wrist to an angle at about his eye level, signifying their departure from one another.

Yugi folded his arms and scowled, _'What a jerk.'_ He thought as he returned to his dorm, _'Maybe Ryou is back at the room… God I hope so…'_

* * *

_'What an arrogant jackass.'_ Tozoku thought as he continued off into the night. _'I'm so tired of people who don't even know me acting like they know every little minute detail and insignificant aspect of my life. For crying out loud.'_

"Fuck!" He shouted into the darkness as he let himself stop walking. He fell into a sitting position on a nearby bench and rested his head in his hands, his elbows on his knees. "Fucking bastards." He muttered into his palms.

"What the hell are you shouting about?" A deep voice asked.

Tozoku looked up and saw Yami approaching. "Fuck off." He snapped as he jumped to his feet to leave the area.

"Toz," Yami asked sounding taken aback.

"Don't call me that, I already told you I didn't want to see or talk to you this year."

"Yeah, and I'm still confused and slightly pissed off about that."

"I don't want to talk about it, I'm tired." Tozoku said as he turned to return to his dorm.

"Toz, will you stop and talk to me for a minute." He said placing a hand on the fleeing man's shoulder who proceeded to shrug it off.

"Yami, I fucking hate people."

Yami let out a low laugh, "I already knew that, for a long while you hated me remember?"

"Yeah… I still hate you." He sneered.

"No you don't, you like me." Yami said with half a smile.

"I tolerate you."

"Eh, you say tomato, I say tomato."

Tozoku rolled his eyes and began to walk off again.

"Did you see my text earlier today?" Yami inquired as he moved up to walk alongside his 'friend'(?).

"I blocked your number."

"Are you serious?"

"I told you, I don't want anything to do with you this year."

"It was about Ryou though, he-"

"What the fuck do you think I've been doing all day?" He snapped back.

"I would have helped you know…"

"I don't need your help."

"Did you find him?"

An awkward pause breeched the conversation for a moment before Tozoku responded, "No…"

"Then maybe you do need my help." He phrased the question more as a statement.

"Get out of here, Yami. I'm really not in the mood."

"Toz…"

"Yami, leave me alone."

"Marik says hey…" Yami said as he walked off into the night.

Tozoku froze where he stood for a moment but then quickly picked his pace back up. He didn't dare look back at Yami – he didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he had affected him in any way, shape or form other than anger and annoyance.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and sulked his way back to his dormitory.

"Fuck." He mumbled into the darkness.

* * *

Yugi opened the door into his dorm room quietly, unaware if anyone was in there, sleeping or otherwise. The lights were all on but no one was there. Joey and Tristan must have left the lights on for Yugi and, or Ryou when they went out for a night (or weekend) of partying.

The spikey haired teen let out a sigh as he stood in the doorway examining the empty room. "Ryou, where are you…?" He frowned.

"Here." A weak voice called out softly from the hallway.

Yugi twisted around to see Ryou nervously rubbing his arms with his hands and unwilling to make eye contact with him. The shorter of the two jumped at his silver haired friend and wrapped him in a hugging embrace.

"Ryou!" He let out into the boys shirt shoulder. "We've been looking freaking everywhere for you today!"

"Hey, shut the hell up!" An angrily groggy voice called from within one of the nearby rooms.

The spikey haired teen pulled the silverette into their room and pushed him toward his bed in excitement to see him. He closed the door behind them and then turned to face Ryou with a wide smile. "Ryou, where have you been all day?!" He half-shouted and half-whispered, so not to make their neighbors any angrier.

"I, uh, I was thinking…"

"Well that explains what you were doing, but where were you? We literally searched this campus up and down."

"We?"

"Oh, uhm…" Yugi hesitated, "Tozoku and I…" He winced in anticipation of Ryou's reaction.

"Oh." Was all he said.

"Oh?"

"What?"

"Nothing." Yugi answered shaking his head, "What were you thinking about all this time?" He changed the subject, deciding he wasn't going to get any further answers regarding where he was.

Ryou let out a shaking sigh. "A lot of stuff…"

"Do you want to talk to me about it?"

"Y-yes…" He stumbled out. "But I don't know if I can… That was one of the things I was thinking about…" He admitted as he looked up from his knees and into Yugi's eyes.

"Hm?"

"Tozoku is my stepbrother." He stated.

* * *

_Notes: Firstly, I would like to thank everyone that has taken the time to review this story – all three of you ;) _

_-Syai :: e.o is the funniest face I've seen in a while lol, also, as you already know, Ryou did have a traumatic experience as a child to make him so 'jumpy' but more news on that will come soon enough :O_

_-Littlerostte :: thanks so much :D_

_-SincerelyChristina :: thanks for liking the story :) and yes, I'm very open to ideas for pairings, new characters, keeping/getting characters back IC, etc. so if you or anyone have any ideas, feel free to let me know them via review or personal message 3 Also, Tristan+Duke xoxoxoxoxo haha_

_-Now, over all, as far as pairings go, I am pretty open to anything and everything! So, I implore you all to give me ideas if you can or want to. And that goes for anything about the story, not just pairings. _

_-A final little disclaimer for the chapter (which will apply to the entire story), I like Kylie Minogue – she'll probably have a reference or more throughout the story ;) She tends to pop into all my stories it seems. _

_-And with that, see ya!_

_-EDIT: I changed Tozoku and Ryou from being half-brothers (even though that makes sense due to them looking alike), for the purposes of the story it doesn't really make sense with the storyline and their backgrounds... Albeit, you can continue to say they are half-brothers, if you want :) _


	7. Chapter 7

_Summary of Chapter Six: Tozoku and Yugi talked a lot this last chapter before and during their search for the missing (erm, hiding?) Ryou. Unfortunately, it ultimately ended with the two of them royally agitated. Then we find out that Yami (as in the Pharaoh but not Atem? Whatever) knows Tozoku and calls him 'Toz'. They get into a little kerfuffle and it ends with Yami saying 'Marik says hey…' and walking away – this clearly get some sort of emotions going in Tozoku, but he refused to let that show. Then we go back to Yugi, who had returned to his dorm room to see if Ryou had returned. He hadn't yet, but then he got there :O They talked briefly and Ryou admitted that Tozoku was actually his half-brother and that's where he left off! Duh, duh, duh! Or something. _

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

"Duke, that guy over there keeps staring at you…" Tristan said under the loud music, being careful to make sure the randoms around them didn't hear his concerns.

"Who?" Duke asked.

"Man this party is awesome!" Joey shouted as he returned to Duke and Tristan to the side of the room with three beers in his hand. "Best one we've been to all year!"

"Like you can even remember half the parties I've gotten you in to." Duke laughed.

"Yeah, whatever -_hic_- man." Joey waved his friend off as he handed the two of them his extra beverages and returned to the crowd.

"What a tool." Tristan said with a grin as he popped the tab of his beer and took a swig.

"Yeah, but what were you saying?" Duke said as he put the unopened can of beer down.

"You know I don't think I've ever seen you drink at one of these parties?" Tristan said, swaying slightly.

"Yeah, I don't drink – but that's beside the point – who is staring at me?" Duke asked as he scanned the room for someone watching him.

"Oh yeah," Tristan said, "doesn't seem like he's where he was when Joey came over… Sorry man."

"What did he look like?"

"Maybe I was just seeing things." Tristan laughed, "I don't know, he was like blonde… Really tan too, I don't know."

"Tristan, you're drunk."

"Nah, just a little tipsy, Joey on the other hand, he is drunk." He informed.

"What? Tristan, I said you're not drunk… You couldn't have been seeing things; you've had two beers…"

Tristan chugged the last of his beer and then burped rather loudly, "Three." He said triumphantly as he picked up the beer Duke had put down just a bit ago and opened it to start his fourth.

Duke rolled his eyes, thinking to himself, _'This is why I don't drink.'_

"Hey man, you gonna be alright here? I'm going to see about getting some water…" He said as he pushed off the wall that he and Tristan were leaning against.

"Oh yeah, man. I'm good."

As Duke weaved his way through the throng of partying college kids he felt his ass grabbed several times and was almost fell on by some drunken girl trying to do a handstand… The entire time he was just wondering to himself, _'Why do I come to these things…?'_

Once he had reached the frat-house kitchen where several of the hosts were dishing out beverages was he asked for a glass of water and got several odd and somewhat dirty looks as they handed him a red solo cup filled part way with water from the tap.

"Thanks." He nodded to them as he walked off back toward the living room where the main party was being held.

"Hey!" A voice called out, but Duke dismissed it as an unknown voice and it probably didn't belong to someone trying to get his attention. "Hey!" The voice came again, "Nice earring!" It called out once more, this time Duke knew it had to be directed at him so he twisted around on his heels coolly, in search of the voice's owner.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be shouting, I was just trying to say I liked your die-earing." The voice came again, as Duke finally found the owner.

"Oh thanks, and no problem." He smiled politely to the person that had walked up to him, smiling wide and bright. This person couldn't have been more than eighteen… Duke was fairly certain of that; and he was also fairly certain that, despite their feminine stance, they were in fact a guy. He was sort of short with blonde hair, about shoulder length – though a little less – and shockingly vivid lilac eyes.

"Nice outfit." Duke said after giving the kid a once over. He wore several gold bangles around his wrists and a cut-off purple hoodie with his tanned arms and midriff showing followed by some black-gray cargo pants. Like Duke, this guy had his ears pierced, but he wore modestly dangling golden pyramid earrings.

"Oh thanks," The individual said, quickly glancing over himself, "I usually wear something like this. Anyway, name's Marik!" He had to shout a bit over the music.

"Good to meet you, Marik. I'm Duke." The black-haired teen nodded and then took a step to the side to return to Tristan.

"What are you drinking?" Marik's voice called once more.

"Huh? Oh just some water – I don't drink alcohol." Duke admitted freely.

"That's cool, I don't either." Marik said smiling, "Are you here with someone?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah, I'm here with a couple of friends… You?"

"Sort of here by myself right now…" Marik frowned, though his lilac eyes maintained their radiant sparkle, "Waiting for my friend, he said he was going to bring someone, but I don't know who."

"Oh, sorry about that man, I'm sure they'll be here soon though."

"Yeah…" Marik said, not wanting to be dismissed. "I guess, I'll see ya around…" He said with a bit of a pout before he began to turn away from Duke.

"See ya." Duke said a bit uneasy. He didn't mean to be rude to the kid, but he didn't really care about his friend's friend or whatever and was trying to get back to his friends, who at this point were probably wasted. Duke let out a sigh, "Hey, if you wanna wait with me and my friends, I guess that'll be alright…"

"Oh gosh! Okay!" Marik squeaked out with a big, toothy smile. "I'll text my friend to let him know I'm hanging out with you so he can find me."

"Cool." Duke said unenthusiastically, unsure of what else to say, as he jerked his head toward where he and Tristan were chilling.

Marik smiled happily as he followed his new friend through the crowd of partiers to where Tristan was practically falling over within a fifth can of beer in his hand.

"Hey Tristan, it cool if Marik hangs with us for a bit?" Duke asked nonchalantly and not really expecting or caring for an answer.

"Ye- -_hic_- yeah…" Tristan stuttered out before his eyes shot open in surprise. He turned to Duke and began to whisper, "Dude, you found h- -_hic_- him!"

"What?"

"The guy that was -_hic_- staring at you…" Tristan clarified, blinking one eye at a time in an attempt to focus his vision on Duke.

"Seriously? This is the guy?" Duke asked rolling his eyes and what he had gotten himself into.

"Uh yup." Tristan nodded drunkenly.

"Tristan, maybe you should sit down." Duke suggested as he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder and forced him into a sitting position on the ground against the wall. Turning to face Marik, who had just pocketed his cell phone, Duke frowned down at the kid.

"What?" Marik asked in confusion.

"Were you following me?"

"Uh, what?"

"When I went out to the kitchen, did you follow me out there?"

"No? I was just going over there to wait by the door…" Marik said, his smile fading quickly.

"Hm, my friend said he saw you staring at me… Were you?" Duke pressed.

"Uh… I'm going to just go wait by the door for my friend…" He said a barely noticeable redness forming against his tan cheeks.

"I'm not trying to be a dick about it, just wondering." Duke tried to clarify as Marik slipped away into the crowd.

* * *

"What were you thinking about all this time?" Yugi asked as he took a seat beside his friend on the bed in their dorm room.

Ryou let out a shaking sigh. "A lot of stuff…"

"Do you want to talk to me about it?" Yugi said placing a concerned hand on Ryou's shoulder.

"Y-yes…" He stammered out. "But I don't know if I can… That was one of the things I was thinking about…" He admitted as he looked up from his knees and into Yugi's eyes.

"Hm?"

"Tozoku is my stepbrother." He stated.

Yugi's eyes grew wide. He had been a complete and total jerk to Ryou's stepbrother all day… But wait, why was Ryou being such a jerk to him all day? "Uh, I, uhm-" He fumbled for the right thing to say.

"Wait, there's a lot I need to try and say… I just, it might take me a while to figure out how to say it…" Ryou said nervously playing with his hands.

"It's okay Ryou, take your time." Yugi said with a reassuring smile.

The silverette let out a shaky sigh and nodded, while still not removing his gaze from his knees. "O-okay, well… It's sort of a long story, but-" he swallowed hard and then sniffled; tears were now falling into his lap. "Please don't hate me for what I'm going to say, I already hate myself enough…"

Yugi flinched a little, taken aback by his friend's half-request and half-confession. "Ryou, I would never hate you…"

"We'll see…" He let out another shaky sigh, "Remember how I said I was abused… By my stepdad…?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Well, that was Tozoku's real dad…"

"Oh my god…" Yugi muttered to himself. "Did he-"

"Yugi, please." Ryou pleaded for quiet. "Tozoku and I became friends, but… whenever he tried to stop his dad from beating me or my mom, and he almost always did, the beatings were just worse." The troubled teen shuttered against the memory and Yugi wrapped a consoling arm around him.

After releasing another distressed sigh from his lips, Ryou continued, "Eventually I, uh… I started cutting myself… I had to wear baggy clothes, but luckily all I had were Tozoku's hand-me-downs so most of my clothes were baggy…" He paused for a moment, "Kids at school made fun of me a lot… I, uh, Tozoku tried to make them stop but then when he wasn't around it was just worse… I…" A long pause entered the conversation.

"Take your time." Yugi said with a light smile.

"Everyone called me a loner and a fatty and a loser and a faggot and… and just everything… I- I, stopped eating…"

The spikey haired boy frowned at the confession. In addition to self-harm, Ryou also had a history of anorexia… Wait! That must be why Tozoku asked if Ryou was eating regularly!

"One day I uh, I-" He exhaled uneasily, "I passed out in the middle of class and they had to call paramedics… They found my cuts and scars from cutting and my bruises from being beaten and, and… They were all just, they were all over me, I couldn't think, I didn't know what to do… Yugi, I was so scared, I was like eleven!" He turned to his friend, tears running down his face, and grasped his shoulders tightly.

"Ryou, I… I don't know what to say…" He hugged his friend who then began mumbling into Yugi's chest.

"I, I didn't know what to do… I didn't know what to say, I- I told them it was Tozoku…" He let out a heavy sob into Yugi's chest and then pulled away and curled himself up into a trembling ball at the opposite end of the bed. "I, I lied and got Tozoku… Tozoku, the only person that ever protected me… I- I got him arrested and thrown through court and stained his record forever… Yugi, I'm a terrible person." He wheezed.

"Ryou, you're not a terrible person… You're stepfather is the terrible person… Wait, why wasn't there a trial?" Yugi wondered aloud.

"He didn't want me to get in trouble or get his dad thrown in prison so he just went along with it…" Ryou muttered into his pillow in between sobs. "Plus he already had a record so the police didn't even bother looking into anything… I wish they had, I wish he had told the truth…"

"But someone eventually found out you said?"

"Yeah…" Ryou let out in a short sigh as he sat up in bed, "just four months after that… How ironic, right…?" He said rhetorically and slumped back into his pillow.

Yugi placed a hand on Ryou's curled up right leg, which was the top one in the fetal position he had rolled himself into. "How did he know about Monday, Ryou." Yugi questioned warily. "Did he atta-"

Ryou jutted up and interrupted, "No, he was protecting me." He said quickly. "I don't know who it was but some guys just jumped out of nowhere and started beating me up… They, they…" He let out a shaky sigh, "They kept calling me a faggot and… one of them was saying he," The boy stopped as he was shaking more ferociously now and he was crying even more now. Yugi wasn't sure how that was possible. "He said, he was- was going to… to r-rape me." He was staring blankly across the room at the wall above Joey's still unmade bed, tears and redness consuming his cheeks.

Yugi was voiceless, he was completely shocked – frozen in a state of fear for what his friend had endured and he wasn't even there to help him.

* * *

"Hey Marik!" A low voice said happily.

"Hey Yami, I don't really feel like staying here…" Marik answered.

"What? Why? You were saying over text you met some friendly people. What happened?" Yami's deep voice demanded an answer in a caring tone.

"I, I just don't want to stay here… I sort of embarrassed myself…"

"How so? Do you want me to talk to someone…?"

"No!" Marik said quickly.

Yami smirked at his friend's reaction, "Are you crushing on this person?"

"No!" Marik said even faster this time. "I don't even know him!"

Yami laughed, "Are you sure you don't want to go talk to him, fix whatever it is you did that embarrassed you?"

"I think that time has come and gone…" Marik responded after considering the proposal for a moment.

"Alright, well where should we go then?"

"I don't care, I guess just back to the dorm… Wait, didn't you say you were bringing someone?"

Yami frowned. "I said I _might_ bring someone, it didn't work out…"

"Who was it? Can I know?" Marik pressed his friend.

"Eh, it's not important right now; didn't work out anyway."

"Will you try to bring this person some other time? Oh! Maybe we could all have lunch sometime!" Marik suggested with a grin.

After pausing for a moment to contemplate whether or not he would pursue the individual in question, he nodded. "I guess I'll try to see if they want lunch with us sometime."

"Oh goody!" Marik said with a smile as he and Yami walked from the living room's entrance into the kitchen.

As the two of them waded through the throng of drunken college students – who were standing and falling down while waiting in line to get more booze from the kitchen – to get out of the frat house, Marik eventually peered up meekly at his friend, "Yami, why don't people like us…?"

"What do you mean?" The taller of the two answered quizzically.

"I mean… why don't people want to be our friends or… like, date us…?" Marik frowned and looked down at his feet, unable to look up at his friend as he finished the question.

Yami frowned but did his best to prevent Marik from seeing; the taller of the two grabbed his friend's hand and gave it a light squeeze as they exited the frat house through the kitchen. "I'm not sure, Marik." He confessed after a moment of thought, "I think people find us awkward or scary."

"I'm the scary one right?" Marik said with a giggle which got a rather loud laugh out of Yami.

"Yeah, you leave 'em shakin' in their boots." He said smiling into Marik's twinkling lilac gaze.

* * *

Tozoku paced back and forth in his single person dorm, which he had thankfully _arranged_ to have with some of the dorm advisors in his building.

"God damn you, Yami!" He let out in a hiss of disapproval. "Why are you always getting involved with my shit, god damn it!" He spat. "And bringing Marik into it, for crying out loud…"

_'Marik…'_ He thought to himself as he let out a disgruntled sigh. _'Why does Yami have to be such an asshole all the time?'_

The tall pale man sighed once more, "Maybe he's not _trying_ to be an asshole," he muttered to himself, "but he sure is coming off that way…"

Of course the way Yami approached Tozoku and the manner of his addressing him wasn't outright rude or offensive, but Tozoku always had a knack for picking up on asshattery.

"No." Tozoku said abruptly and sternly to himself. "I don't care what that prick says, I will never forgive him…"

There was a long pause.

"Why can't Marik see this jackass for what he really is…?" He asked the air around him rhetorically as he fell back into his pillow. "Why do I always end up looking like the bad guy?" He muttered as he stared up at his ceiling in preparation for yet another night of restless sleep.

* * *

Duke kicked his friend lightly who was now dangerously close to passing out. "Tristan will you stand up for a minute, this is important."

"Erm, a goddu ta d-brf…" Tristan stammered out, unable to form words at this point.

"Yeah, you can throw up or pass out or whatever you gotta do as soon as you stand up and answer my question: Is that that guy Ryou said Yugi was going to meet earlier today?" Duke demanded as he tapped his foot against Tristan's side once more.

A moment passed of silence. "Ugh, you're hopeless." Duke said in annoyance and defeat.

"Fffer- gettugh…"

Duke rolled his eyes as he examined the Yugi-lookalike from across the living room. He had on a cobalt blue jacket and a fitted black tank top with fitted leather pants to match. Duke admired the man's conviction with the double-belt but shook his head slightly at the several chains at his hip.

_'This has to be that – what was his name? Yami…? – that Ryou was talking about earlier…'_ He thought to himself as he continued to study the tall figure speaking to Marik. _'Was this who Marik was waiting for, or had he too fallen into Marik's… Game? Trap? Whatever you want to call it.' _

Duke wondered silently, _'Maybe I should go over and investigate? No, I'd probably just screw everything up for one or both of them or get involved in something I don't care to be twisted up in…' _He dismissed his thoughts as he turned to see Tristan leaking boozy vomit out onto the already stained and ruddy carpet of the frat house.

"Ugh, I told you to stop drinking three beers ago." Duke said in annoyance, "You have no one to blame but yourself…" He shook his head and looked up to see Marik and this supposed Yami fellow leaving the living room – he assumed to grab some drinks from the kitchen.

* * *

_Notes: The relationships between everyone are starting to open up to you all :O Well, more or less? Any who, we'll eventually dig deeper into the Yami and Tozoku relationship (though I'm not sure when). Hm… I had other notes, but I'm really tired… I can't really remember them all :/ _

_-Yami is sort of based off of Yami from the show, but also the – stereotypical – 'straightest' gay guy I know in real life… Oh how I hate and yet love him (long story)! _

_-Poor Ryou :( His story just keeps getting darker and darker I feel :( He has a lot of baggage and I really hope Yugi will help him out with it all! _

_-I really like this chapter, let me know what you think of it and what you think will come to pass in future chapters in reviews! _

_-Favorite, follow, review, etc! The emails I get for those alerts keep me from forgetting about my stories lol_


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